Five-year-old Madison boy gets stolen wheelchair back

MADISON (WITI) -- A stolen wheelchair kept a five-year-old Madison boy from being able to attend school -- but the boy's family was able to avoid a very difficult and expensive situation.

Zayen Davis is a typical five-year-old boy who loves to play with his cars and loves going to school. However, Davis has a tough time getting around.

Davis was born with one leg longer than the other. In November, he had surgery to stretch his shorter leg.

"The doctors went in and broke his hip to stretch his femur bone," Davis' mother, Doneta Hopkins said.

Since his surgery, Davis has had to wear a cast from his ankle to mid-waist. He will wear the cast for another six to eight weeks, and after that, it will take two more surgeries before his condition is finally fixed.

"It's been a process, and that process is not done," Hopkins said.

Davis' only mode of transportation is a specially-designed wheelchair that was stolen on Wednesday morning, April 24th.

"When the school bus came and got him the other morning and I raised up the garage and it was gone, I was just devastated," Hopkins said.

Without his chair, Davis couldn't get to school.

"I cried, that morning. I was just overwhelmed that it was missing. My baby even cried, because he wanted to go to school. Zayen wanted to go to school," Hopkins said.

As chance would have it, on Friday afternoon, the chair was found!

After alerting friends, the school and everyone in the neighborhood, someone located the chair a mile down the road. After two days of being stuck inside, Davis was finally able to get rolling.

"I'm just grateful to God that it did return," Hopkins said.

It was a small victory for a family that has been through so much.

"The road has been rough but I know it's going to get better," Hopkins said.

Davis' family says replacing the chair would have cost them more than $1,000.