After losing his father in a car accident in May, three-year-old Nathan Lambert clung to a stuffed bear that reminded him of his father.
Shortly after his dad passed away, Nate's aunt got him the memorial bear that wears a sweater with his father's name and an inscription that says "daddy is always here".
The wings on the back of the sweater signify that his father is now an angel, according to his mother Kelsey Higgins.
Nathan was told, "If you miss dad, hug the bear, if you want to talk to dad, talk to the bear."
The stuffed toy has been able to ease a lot of the pain the boy was feeling because he missed his dad.
"He is three, so he doesn't know how to verbalize what he is feeling...the bear has helped a lot."
The bear, who Nate named 'Daddy Bear', goes everywhere with the toddler.
It was a visit to the Maine Mall where this precious bear went missing, but an act of kindness by another three-year-old brought him home again.
Nathan was at the mall with his mom to have their first family photos taken since his father died.
The bear was not wearing his symbolic sweater when it was lost.
Kelsey search the mall and the parking lot after the stuffed toy went missing but wasn't able to turn it up.
It was a rough few days without the bear for the toddler and his mom.
"His bedtime is usually at 8:00 p.m. without 'daddy bear' it's been closer to 11:00 p.m."
Fortunately Charles Mourtouphis and his three-year-old daughter spotted 'daddy bear' in the Maine Mall parking lot after he went missing. His daughter wanted to 'rescue' the bear from the rain. Usually Charles doesn't let his daughter take home things she has found, but he sensed a significance to the bear.
He then posted online that his daughter had found the bear hoping to reunite it with its rightful owner.
Kelsey was pleasently surprised about how quickly news of the missing bear spread online.
"Just the fact that how many people care to try and help us find a teddy bear is amazing," she said.
Source: WCSH6