“Stuff like that is how we all as professional baseball players fell in love with the game."
Every parent knows the stomach-dropping moment: your child’s most treasured comfort object is gone. For Katie Pedrick, that moment came amid the crowds and chaos of the Boston Marathon finish line — and what followed was a small miracle powered by social media, a determined volunteer and a dog named Foxy Lady.
The Moment Sarah Went Missing
On April 20, Pedrick and her 3-year-old daughter Daisy were at the Boston Marathon on Boylston Street, near the iconic finish line. Somewhere in the shuffle of the day, Daisy’s beloved stuffed animal — a toy she’d named Sarah — disappeared.
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Pedrick and Daisy spent hours retracing their steps through the area, searching without success. When it became clear Sarah wasn’t turning up, Pedrick turned to social media with a plea that would eventually reach thousands of people.
“My three-year-old lost her favorite stuffy at the Boston Marathon today,” Pedrick wrote. “Her name is Sarah and we would really, really love her back.”
The post gained thousands of views, but no immediate leads materialized. A stuffed animal on the streets of Boston after one of the world’s most famous races — it felt like searching for a needle in a haystack.
A Volunteer and Her Dog Hit the Streets
Pedrick contacted CBS News Boston about the missing toy, and the station reached out to Ali Foley, a volunteer with the Neighborhood Association of Back Bay. Foley decided to take matters — and her dog — into her own hands.
“I said, ‘Well, Foxy Lady needs to go outside for her evening walk; we’ll go out,’” Foley told WCVB-TV.
Foley and Foxy Lady combed the finish line area, checking sidewalks, trash bags and containers. She even spoke with a Boston police officer during the search. Then, on Exeter Street — a block that had just been cleaned after the marathon — Foley spotted something.
“I looked down Exeter Street, which had just been cleaned,” Foley told CBS News Boston. “I looked down to the left and I see a little bundle of fur on the sidewalk and I said, ‘That can’t be it.’”
But it was.
The Heartwarming Reunion
On April 21, just one day after Sarah went missing, Daisy was reunited with her stuffed animal near the marathon finish line.
Pedrick was overjoyed — and already planning ahead.
“I didn’t think we would ever see her again and we are so happy to have her back. She is going to get an AirTag collar the second we get home, that’s for sure,” Pedrick told CBS News Boston.
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For Pedrick, the whole experience reflected something larger about the event that brought thousands of people together on Boylston Street in the first place.
“I think the Boston Marathon is so much about people coming together and community spirit. It really feels like an example of that,” she said.
You can see the reunion on Instagram.
