Eastside News

Family's car stolen from Evergreen hospital while baby is sick at NICU

A thief steals a family's car from a hospital parking lot while their newborn is in intensive care.

But the community is rallying behind them at a crucial time.

The family bought the car recently so they had one that could fit the baby girl's car seat. They say the car was stolen last Friday from the parking garage at the Evergreen Health Medical Center in Kirkland.

The family says despite so much going wrong, what happened after the theft has them counting their blessings.

Video shows 9 pounds 9 ounce baby Olivia opening her eyes for the first time.

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“She’s a big baby,” said Shane Thompson, her dad.

Her mom and dad are first-time parents and knew their baby girl was going to be born with health issues.

“We found out early on in the pregnancy she had one bad kidney,” said Katrina Gillis, her mom.

But Olivia came into the world facing even more complications.

“Her body was not able to process her blood sugar,” Gillis said. “Her blood pressure started spiking,” she said.

Their newborn was hospitalized in the NICU at Evergreen. Then life dealt another blow.

“I was going to go home and grab a change of clothes for us and come back,” Thompson said. “I'm standing in this spot and there's no car,” he said.

Turns out someone stole their car.

“I don't know why somebody would do something like that,” Thompson said.

“We were both crying. It was just like adding on extra helpings of bad things,” he said.

The car is a 1992 white Honda Accord – license plate BPW0182.

The couple had been saving up to get a four-door to better fit a car seat.

“It really did kind of rock our whole everything. Because I'd only had the car for three weeks and I bought it specifically for our daughter Olivia,” Thompson said.

The new parents figured they'd just have to deal with it

“We ended up getting the short end of the stick on everything and that's just how it's going to be,” Gillis said.

“I would not even have thought about asking for help because that's harder in general sometimes for people to do,” Thompson said.

Shane's sister, Julie Metteer, did the asking for them.

“I was just so livid. We all were,” she said.

She shared the story of their hardship and started a Facebook fundraiser.

“I’ve been absolutely blown away,” Gillis said.

The donations rolled in – about $5,000 in five days.

Plus a big help came from Ford of Kirkland. The company closed the price gap for the new family and sent them off with a Kia Sportage.

“Now we have room for Olivia to come home in,” Thompson said.

“ I went from thinking how cruddy people are and how could they do that, to just being humbled and amazed at the generosity, the well wishes, the donations, and the kindness of people that I don't even know,” Thompson said.

That kindness turned one of their worst times into what this couple now calls, a very big blessing.

“I look at it and say, how is it we can be so lucky?” Thompson said. “To have a huge upswing and restore our faith in people,” he said.

If you spot the stolen car (1992 white Honda Accord – license plate BPW0182), you’re asked to call Kirkland Police.