A Courtice family is seeking the public's help to recover an external hard drive containing precious digital photos and videos of its late son.

Michelle Courville said the hard drive, a laptop it was attached to and other items were stolen during a break-in at her family's home early Monday morning.

During an interview with CP24 on Tuesday, Courville pleaded for the safe return of the hard drive and laptop containing images of her five-year-old son Thomas, including many family photos.

"Those photos and videos are very precious to us," Courville told CP24's Lindsey Deluce by telephone. "Memories fade and those images are all we have left of him to keep his memory alive."

Courville issued a direct plea to the person or people who ransacked the home.

"I just want my laptop and our hard drive back so we can have those memories," she said. "We're just baffled that someone could do this and pretty much take those five years away from us."

Her son, Thomas Courville, was born with a rare genetic disorder that left him blind, deaf and in a wheelchair, his mother said. He died in hospital in 2008 after falling ill before his sixth birthday.

"He was very sweet and anyone who met him fell in love with him," Michelle Courville said. "We were blessed to have him with us for five years."

Door kicked in

Michelle Courville said she discovered the break-in when she returned home to find a door kicked in and belongings missing.

In addition to the one-terabyte external hard drive, the thief or thieves stole two 17-inch ACER laptop computers, a 52-inch LCD TV, a black Panasonic video camera.

According to police, there are no additional copies of the files that were on the hard drive and the family is hoping the device can be returned to authorities.

Anyone with information that may assist in the return of the hard drive or any of the other stolen items is asked to call police at 1-888-579-1520 ext. 1736.

Anonymous tips can be made to Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-8477.

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