A wonderful day at the mall visiting Santa turned into a day of shock, sadness, and disappointment for Nancy Coyne and her 7-year-old son Garrett Coyne.
Nancy brought her son to the King of Prussia Mall in Pennsylvania for their annual visit with Santa. She parked her car in the parking lot outside of Nordstrom, and they both had an amazing time visiting old St. Nick. When they returned to the car, however, Nancy was completely stunned at what she saw.
Wrapping up their holiday festivities, Nancy was shocked to see “UR Not Handicap” scribbled on her car window in bright red lipstick.
“I can’t believe someone could be so obnoxious and ignorant and rude about a situation that I struggle with daily,” Nancy told Fox 29.
This loving mom has every reason to be upset about the cruel note — her son Garrett has an incurable condition called Batten disease. Batten disease is a rare neurological condition that began taking its toll on Garrett when he was just 3-years-old.
Since his diagnosis, the now 7-year-old has gone blind, suffers seizures, and is losing his motor skills. It’s a condition that often ends in childhood death.
“There is no cure. There is no treatment,” Nancy explained. “Trying to make memories for my family then this happened.”
Nancy’s family’s car was parked in a disabled parking spot with their legal permit displayed. She can’t understand why someone would go out of their way to leave such an ignorant note without knowing the full scope of the situation. The person clearly made an assumption when she saw Nancy leaving the car without any visible disability.
“It just made me really question society to be honest. Like OK, I guess people don’t understand. People don’t care,” Nancy said.
Nancy and her family have shifted their emotions from anger to sadness. They feel sorry for the person who wrote the note because they are clearly misguided and need to work on thinking before they act; things aren’t always as they seem.
“I just want the person to realize what they did was wrong and to learn from it and not to it again,” Garrett’s dad, Joe Coyne, said.
Nancy and Garrett’s special day turned sour due to one person’s ignorance. Make an effort to spread some love, joy, and understanding today. Watch the full news footage below.
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