A Change of Heart

This one brought tears to my eyes. It happened just this week. :-)

Jami McElrath has inoperable cancer. Like many terminally ill patients, she's been working hard to collect mementos for her children, so they will have something solid to remember her after she's gone.

Among those mementos... she's been taking photos she wants to put in a scrapbook.
During a family trip to Texas, Jami's camera was stolen from her car while her family ate in a restaurant. The camera was loaded with photos of the trip, including their time at Six Flags amusement park.

As if that weren't enough, the camera also had extra sentimental value. It had belonged to her father, who died of a heart attack two years ago.

Jami told her heart-wrenching story to a wonderful reporter at the ABC affiliate in Dallas, Jim Douglas (sidenote: I know Jim personally. He's a dear friend of mine, and I have no doubt this story broke his heart).

"I just want my camera back," she told Jim in the story. "I just want those memories back."

Part of her plea also included this heartwarming message of hope: "People are good," she said. "That's what I'm saying. I don't think this person who took my camera is out to hurt people. I think they have a desperate situation they're in."

A few days after the story aired, Jim received a phone call from a man who didn't want to identify himself. He told Jim to look behind a red car in the station's parking lot. He also added that he felt bad about the incident.

Needless to say, Jim found the camera. He and a news crew traveled to Oklahoma to return it to Jami, who burst into tears. She had some words for the man who took it.

"Whoever you are, thank you so much," she said. "Thank you for having a conscience and bringing it back. I can't tell you what it means to me."