BOSTON (WHDH) - A local college student who needs a scooter to help get around the city due to a heart condition is looking for answers after someone stole her transportation while she was at work.
Ava Poole, a Simmons University student, said she was interning at Brigham and Women’s Hospital when her scooter was stolen last week.
According to Poole, the scooter was one of her main ways of getting around the city because of a heart condition that makes it difficult for her to walk long distances. Now, she’s hoping the thief returns it to her.
“It was awful, it was horrible,” she told 7NEWS.
Poole, a senior at Simmons, said that after training at the hospital last Wednesday, she came out to find her scooter had been stolen from a bike rack.
The scooter had been a necessity for her, given Poole’s condition – arrhythmogenic right ventricular cardiomyopathy, which she was diagnosed with at age 12.
“My heart works only half as well as the average person’s,” she explained.
The condition affects Poole’s heart muscle, translating to her heart having an unsteady rhythm, leaving her feeling weak and often relying on the scooter to traverse the Boston area.
“There are times where it is possible I have a heart episode or event where I can be hospitalized,” Poole said. “For me, what was taken was more about my life and a much bigger impact than just a material possession.”
While the investigation into the stolen scooter continues, the student is pleading for the person responsible to give her her lifeline back.
Meanwhile, a GoFundMe campaign has been set up for Ava while the hospital and Boston police continue to look into the matter
The campaign, aimed at getting Ava funds for a new mobility scooter, has raised over $3,100 as of Wednesday, Oct. 18.
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