Theft of rings was so much more
Heirloom jewelry taken from car of cancer-walk participant
Pat Greeley, 58, walked 60 miles last weekend during Boston's annual three-day walk for breast cancer. It was the hardest thing she ever had to do, she said.
Her younger sister, Kathleen, died two months ago after an eight-year battle with the disease. Buoyed by her sister's courage, Greeley completed the grueling event Sunday, bringing tears of relief and a profound sense of accomplishment.
But her joy was dealt a severe blow when she and her husband, Chris, discovered that during the fund-raiser someone had broken into their vehicle and took something else that was precious: her engagement ring and wedding band, which once belonged to her grandmother.
"With my sister, it was like she was never sick," said Greeley, of Newburyport, her words trailing off as she started to cry. "So, every time I got tired during the walk, I started thinking about how tired she was when she got dressed to see her baby's last soccer game.
"All that strength and courage and determination," she said. "The feeling was amazing. I could have walked across the Boston Harbor that day.
"And then we got to the car -- I couldn't believe it," Greeley said.
Their Jeep Liberty was parked alongside hundreds of other walk participants' vehicles at the Bayside Expo Center. Missing were a cosmetic bag carrying the rings, as well as her husband's $2,000 golf clubs and her garment bag carrying an old T-shirt and shorts.
"I just thought, this is a joke," Greeley said. "My husband said, 'Honey, it's not a joke.' I couldn't stop crying at that point. It was very surreal."
This was the first time in 10 years of marriage that she had ever taken off the rings, Chris Greeley, 53, pointed out. But Friday night, after she had walked with thousands of others on the first day of the fund-raiser, her fingers started to swell, and the medics advised her to remove the bands.
For his wife, the walk was not just a fund-raiser. By standing shoulder to shoulder alongside survivors and those who have lost loved ones to breast cancer, the walk became a meaningful journey through her grief.
"For the first time since her sister -- she was crying, dancing," he said. "She was just so up. She was moving through it, and then we get to the car."
After all that was accomplished, Pat Greeley fell to pieces Sunday night, wondering what was the point of it all, her husband said.
"People want to know the cost of crime?" he said. "My golf clubs were stolen, but they can be replaced. Even my wife's ring, it was her grandmother's so it's hard, but it also can be replaced.
"But I don't know if you can replace that day or that moment for my wife who was overcoming that anger . . . and that loss of her sister. They don't know what they almost stole from her. I tell her, 'Honey, don't let them steal your day.' "
The Greeleys filed a police report, but they know that finding the stolen items won't be easy. They plan to visit pawn shops in hope of recovering the rings.
Her grandfather gave her the rings over a decade ago after her grandmother's death.
"There were no diamonds or anything like that," she said. "They were just wedding rings. They were little, nothing fancy, but it was my grandmother's." 