Oakland mom seeks help after her disabled son’s specialized chair was stolen
Oakland teen stuck at home after specialized chair stolen
A 17-year-old with muscular dystrophy had his specialized chair stolen right from his Oakland yard. The theft was caught on surveillance video and the teen has been stuck at home since. We have his mothers plea for help.
OAKLAND, Calif. - The mother of a teenage boy, with muscular dystrophy, said her son hasn’t been able to leave their Oakland home for almost a week since a specialized chair, critical to his mobility, was stolen from their front yard.
What we know:
Tamika Lyles said last Tuesday morning she used the equipment known as an "evacuation chair" to get her son down the stairs outside their home and into a van that transports him to and from school.
She left the chair in the gated yard of her Fruitvale-Foothill neighborhood and brought its battery inside to charge. When she returned, to her shock, the chair was missing.
Timeline:
"He left at 8:10. It was stolen at 9:10," Lyles explained to KTVU. "The evacuation chair is very important. He has muscular dystrophy, and he can't get out of the house without it."
Lyles said her 17-year-old son, TJ, weighs about 210 pounds, and there is no way for her to lift him to help him get out of the house.
When TJ returned from school on the day the chair was stolen, the mom said, luckily her son’s three grown friends were able to assist in bringing him indoors.
Tamika Lyles said her son TJ's specialized chair was stolen from their Oakland yard on Tuesday, March 18, 2025. The teen, who has muscular dystrophy, needs the chair to get in and out of their home. (Tamika Lyles)
Stuck in his home
But he’s been stuck in the house since the theft, unable to get to school or even go outside for fresh air.
"I’m quite sure he wants to go to school. He wants to get out of the house and do things," the distressed mother said. "He needs to go to school, to doctors’ appointments. He just can’t do anything but stay in the house now."
She also worried that if there was a fire or other such emergency that required them to evacuate the home, she wouldn’t be able to get her son out.
Dig deeper:
Lyles said the teen has Duchenne muscular dystrophy.
According to the National Institutes of Health, the condition most frequently affects boys and is considered "one of the most severe forms of inherited muscular dystrophies."
The mom explained that the family received the chair about a year ago, and it has been a critically useful equipment to help her transport her son.
Surveillance video
She said she received surveillance video from a property manager from across the street.
The video is difficult to make out, but Lyles said the thief appeared to be older in age and likely a woman.
Lyles said she’s put up fliers around the neighborhood in an effort to try and recover the chair.
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She also posted a message on the neighborhood social media site "NextDoor" with hopes someone may have spotted the chair, which she said doesn’t even work since the battery was brought inside to recharge when it was stolen.
"He is now stuck inside of the house. This chair is very valuable to us (not money wise)," Lyles wrote in her post, asking community members to help her locate her child's chair.
Many who have read her plea were incensed, with some offering advice on where to seek a replacement or asking how they could provide any support.
What they're saying:
"I am so sorry! What a horrible thing for someone to do. How can we help?" a NextDoor user wrote.
"How low can they go!" one user commented.
"Got to be some sort of lowlife to STEAL a specialized chair!!!!" another person responded.
A replacement could take long
The mom said that the pressing concern is that she might have to wait as long as a month to a month-and-a-half for a replacement.
That means her son might not be able to leave the house until that happens.
"My only solution is to contact the people at California Children’s Services and file a police report," she said.
KTVU has made contact with Oakland police for any updates on the case and is awaiting any new information.
Valuable loss to her son
The mom was upset and expressed anger that someone would just take the chair without even knowing what it was used for.
"People just stealing stuff for no reason," the mother said. "You don't even know what you took, how valuable it is to someone."
A photo of what the missing evacuation chair looks like can be found here.
Oakland mom says son's specialized chair was stolen
Tamika Lyles said an "evacuation chair," used by her son with muscular dystrophy, was stolen on Tuesday, March 18, 2025. She's asking the public for help in tracking it down. She shared a recording of a surveillance video.