Chad Carr died in 2015 from pediatric brain cancer, but the 5-year-old’s fight against his disease united rivals and inspired the whole sports world.
When photos and videos of Carr—the grandson of former University of Michigan football coach Lloyd Carr and the son of former Wolverines quarterback Jason Carr—were recently stolen from a safe in the family’s house, social media helped get the priceless possessions back to the family.
As the Washington Post reported, the family was away this week on vacation, when two suspected thieves broke into the home and allegedly stole a fireproof safe with two hard drives containing photos and videos of Chad.
Then, news of the theft—and what was taken—went viral.
“News spread so fast, in fact, that it went viral … and that made a SIGNIFICANT impact on this case,” the family wrote on Facebook. “One of the perpetrators actually saw the information on the news and felt badly [and] after he was apprehended, he actually led the officers to where they would find the hard drives.”
As a thank you to everybody who played a role in the recovery, the Carr family posted a video of Chad playing in the water on the ChadTough Foundation Facebook page.