Two heartless women have snatched a critical delivery of food and feeding tubes meant for a terminally ill little girl in Melbourne's west, prompting her devastated parents to make a desperate plea for the thieves to return the supplies.
Five weeks' worth of formula, which 12-year-old Jana cannot live without, was stolen from her doorstep in Tarneit on Wednesday.
Her father Mohammad Hamooudeh said, "It's the only thing she can eat or drink."
Jana suffers from Leigh's Syndrome, a deadly and degenerative genetic disorder that means she is kept alive through a tube.
"She can't walk, she can't see, she can't hear," mother Yasmin Aklakel said. "She can't do anything that any other child can do."
CCTV footage captured the theft. Most children with the disease do not live past six, a devastating reality her parents have already had to confront.
"We had my son, his name was Saif. He died at three years old. He should be 17 years old," Aklakel said.
"So we have already lots of hassle at home and you coming make it worse and more stress even for my kids," Hamooudeh said.
The family says Jana's sister is determined to become a genetic doctor to help people like her siblings.
"My daughter has, it's her first exam today and she wants to be a genetic doctor to help people that are like her sister and her brother," Aklakel said.
It is not the first time the family has been targeted. Four months ago, another $900 delivery of Jana's food was stolen, and there were many attempted thefts before that.
"One time they tried to break into the car. One time they tried to get, they got a hammer and they tried to hit the keypad," Aklakel said.
"I've been sitting down in front of the window just waiting for them to drop them back home. I was waiting to see if they would have some empathy when they knew what it was ... They didn't."
