LINCOLN PARK, Mich. – A Lincoln Park woman is in a rough spot after her car was stolen with a wheelchair for her son with special needs inside.
Tracy Rimka is a single mother of three whose oldest child has had epilepsy his whole life and had brain surgery two years ago.
Rimka said she just wants whoever stole her car to "have a soul" and at least give her the wheelchair.
"We have a real special life here," Rimka said. "Really hard to keep afloat."
She said her whole world revolves around taking care of her 25-year-old son, Michael Rimka.
"It's been a long road," Tracy Rimka said. "He's been a fighter through it all, and the brain surgery was horrible."
There isn't much Rimka and her three children, plus a grandchild, can do without, but on Monday night her 1997 white Jeep Cherokee was stolen with Michael's wheelchair inside.
"It was upside down with the big wheels, so they could see it," Rimka said.
It's important to the family because Michael's seizures can knock him right off his feet.
"You don't even have time to have a seizure," Rimka said. "You just drop. Which, whatever is in the way, you just drop onto. So it's deadly. He's broken his neck, even."
Michael recently received 13 stitches on his forehead from an episode. Without the wheelchair, it's hard to do just about anything.
"(It's hard to) walk him around or feel safe," Rimka said. "It takes away my security."