SANTA ANA – Her mother fittingly named her Milagros, which means “miracles” in Spanish, when she was born.

Four-year-old Milagros Perez was born without legs among several other medical issues and wasn’t expected to survive – but she did.

Today, she likes the outdoors and being taken on walks – hopefully one day to Disneyland – but over the weekend, police say, someone stole her special type of wheelchair, her main form of mobility.

“I still can’t believe someone would do that,” Rosa Isela Perez, the girl’s mother, said in Spanish on Wednesday morning outside their home.

The chair was stolen sometime before Saturday morning when Perez said she didn’t find it in its usual spot on the back patio.

The family reported it to police Tuesday night and officers were “combing” the area trying to find it, but came up empty, said Cpl. Anthony Bertagna of the Santa Ana Police Department.

After the apparent theft, Perez said she searched around her neighborhood in the 400 block of South Flower Street for the chair or anyone who may have seen it.

She was able to get the chair two years ago with the help of an insurance program. Otherwise she would never have been able to afford it, she said.

Police estimated the chair’s worth as $10,000. Her husband doesn’t make a lot of money as a newspaper delivery driver, and she can’t work as much as she’d like because she’s taking care of Milagros.

With the holiday season starting, she knows trying to replace the loss will be even harder.

“There are so many things she wants and needs that I want to give her, but I can’t,” Perez said through tears.

Officers interviewed the neighbors but don’t have many leads as to where the chair or the culprit could be.

“You have to think about the type of person who would do this. Why steal this?” Bertagna said.

The police hadn’t yet found the chair, but on Wednesday morning, they delivered something else for Milagros: a Christmas tree.

“When we got here this morning, all she wanted was to decorate a Christmas tree,” Bertagna said.

“So the officers went to the Home Depot and told (the manager) about what happened to this little girl and they just gave it to us.”

Milagros watched excitedly while sitting from a toy push buggy as officers untied the more than 5-foot tree and the tree needles scattered on the concrete driveway of their apartment complex.

“Mom, tree!” she said in Spanish.

Milagros had been constantly asking to decorate a tree, Perez said.

“We were just going to get a little tree, but this one is so big.”

Perez mustered a laugh as she noticed the eagerness Milagros had when moving about on a small Disney Princess skateboard she sometimes rides on.

The missing chair didn’t seem to phase Milagros, but the real challenge would be on her next trip to school after the Thanksgiving break, her mother said. She needs the chair to move around at school.

Bertagna said police were working to find a source to help replace the chair.

“We have a lot of difficulties already and especially with her care, so when (the theft) happened I was so angry,” Perez said.

“But for Thanksgiving I just have to be happy that she’s happy … and she looks like she is.”

Anyone with information is asked to call the Santa Ana Police Department at 714-245-8665. Those who wish to remain anonymous are asked to contact Orange County Crime Stoppers 1-855-TIP-OCCS.

Contact the writer: 714-796-7865 or afausto@ocregister.com