ST. LOUIS – “Not another thing,” Michael Trower said. “I have enough problems, I have enough stress. It’s just been really rough year.”
For the past 10 months, Trower says his family’s been in and out of Cardinal Glennon Children’s Hospital while his 13-year-old son, Braden, battles Crohn’s and colitis disease.
“All year since January, month here, six weeks there, lot of time here and a lot of missed worked,” he told KTVI.
On Wednesday, Trower decided to take a moment from inside the hospital to go check on his work truck—a 1993 Chevrolet C-K 1500—but he was in for a rude awakening.
“I just went down there to check on it and it was gone,” Trower said.
St. Louis Police say surveillance video shows two men – one driving a white older model car and the other driving a tow-truck entering the garage and parking next to Trower’s truck.
Investigators say both men got out of their cars, hooked Trower’s vehicle up to the tow truck and left.
Now, Trower is left without his primary source of income.
“[The truck is] worth nothing to nobody but me,” he said. “Not worth money, I had a little insurance on it, but it’s not going to pay for it. Tools weren’t covered. Years and years and years of tools I’ve accumulated and they’re just gone.”
Police didn’t give a license plates number on the suspects’ cars.
Trower said he can’t believe thieves chose the children’s hospital, a place where parents are at their most vulnerable.
“Some of their kids may not make it out of here. There’s a lot of really sick kids in there,” Trower said. “To come in here and steal one of these vehicles or to break in and steal something out of it. It’s horrible, just why, I don’t understand it!”
SSM Health released a statement:
“At SSM Health, the safety and security of our patients, visitors and staff are our top priority. Upon learning of the situation, we immediately increased patrols and are actively cooperating with authorities on the vehicle’s recovery.”
If you see the truck, Trower is asking you call police or the number on the truck because it links to him.
