A mum has said her son 'couldn't stop crying' after returning to Manchester from a dream trip to find his signed hockey sticks had disappeared.
Robert Barrie's family had raised money for him to travel to the USA to see his favourite ice hockey team in action. Mum Lynn said that he had the 'time of his life' and was even given the chance to meet his heroes after the game where they signed two hockey sticks for him.
Robert, who was 24 when he was diagnosed with Motor Neurone Disease, then paid an extra £100 to have the sticks shipped back to the UK but on his return to Manchester, the bag was empty, reports the ECHO .
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British Airways have now say they are 'urgently investigating' the matter, after a check-in officer had inspected them over at Pittsburgh Airport on December 7, before they were never seen again.
Lynn told the ECHO: "This was Rob's dream trip and he has been planning it for months. He is very unwell and for Rob to fly all the way there took so much out of him. He pushed himself to the limit but it was the chance of a lifetime.
"He did not want to come home and got to meet the players which was his dream come true. I was so excited to hear all about it and hug him. When I met him at the airport he was just sobbing his eyes out.
"Everyone donated money and worked so hard to get him there and it has ended like this. Rob has been living in hope that they will be found.
"We have the bag they came in but not the sticks which is the most important part. When we got Rob to the van he could not speak so we all ended up in tears. It is a nightmare."
MND kills a third of those diagnosed within 12 months and Rob, now 29, has been battling the disease for the past five years. Permanently in a wheelchair, Rob has also lost the use of his hands.
A spokesperson for British Airways said: "We’re really sorry to hear about this and we’re urgently investigating with the airports our customer travelled through."
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