Treasured Barry Bonds Memorabilia Stolen in SJ

Heather Emmert has searched Craigslist and eBay.

Hoping and praying that she will find her prized gift. But so far no luck.

What she's looking for was stolen from her. It is an autographed newspaper clipping signed by the one and only Barry Bonds.

For ten years, the framed autographed clipping had its place on a wall in Emmert's mother's home in San Jose.

Right next to it was a picture of Barry Bonds and his father.

Now, they're both gone. The wall swiped clean by heartless burglars.

"I never thought those would ever be gone. That's why they were here. I thought they were safe at my mom's house," Emmert said.

Heather's mom came home in the Magic Sands community on Halloween and found someone had turned the inside upside down.

When she saw the blank wall, her heart sank. "I felt so bad because those were such so important to her and they were a highlight to her for those ten weeks that she was in the ICU," Sue Emmert said.

Heather spent ten weeks in the ICU at Stanford Hospital back in 2003. Born with Cystic Fibrosis, she had to have a double lung transplant to live.

It was in the ICU where Heather met Barry Bonds for the second time. She actually had met him at a Make A Wish event in Florida when she was 8-years old.

"I see this huge man walk in my room and I realize who it is and it was amazing. It was such a bright light in such a dark time," Heather Emmert said.

Bonds was visiting his father who was also in the ICU at the time.

Heather summoned up the courage to ask him to autograph a newspaper clipping. Bonds agreed with a smile.

"He signed it for me and yeah I've had it ever since. It's such a treasured possession," Heather Emmert said.

A treasured possession that's now gone. Her family wants it back.

"For someone to just take that, it's so wrong. I wished they walked in her shoes for a day during that time," Landon Gottlieb, Heather's husband, said.

The autographed newspaper clipping is in black frame with two baseball cards in the lower corners.

"But something that personal can never be replaced unless I get the actual thing back. Nothing can take it's place on that wall," Heather Emmert said.

San Jose police took a report on Halloween. The case is under review.

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