DAVISON TOWNSHIP, Michigan

— Wendy Turnquist lost her son in 2007 after a long battle with Kearns-Sayre syndrome, a rare neuromuscular disorder.

And after a

, she feels like she's lost him again.

Turnquist returned to her Waterford Township home from work Friday afternoon to find a window smashed and just one item missing from the house — an urn containing Ryan McDonald's ashes.

Ryan died at age 12 after years of fighting for his life.

A 2007 Flint Journal article documented the family's struggle and the days leading up the moment the boy with the "irresistible smile" told his mother he was "ready to go to heaven."

"This is just like losing him all over again," said Turnquist, 42, who moved from Davison Township to Oakland County shorty after Ryan died.

"I wonder who in the world would want my son's ashes," she said. "If it was just some random burglary, I would have thought they would take other things along with his ashes."

The stainless steel urn has photos of Ryan in pewter frames on each side.

"There was no mistaking it was an urn," Turnquist said.

Turnquist's mother Sharyn Dodge of Flint struggled to understand why anyone would steal an urn.

"It's devastating," said Dodge, 64. "It's like Ryan's died all over again. Somebody has to have a very evil heart to do something like that."

She hoping whoever took the ashes has a change of heart and leaves the urn at someone's doorstep.

Waterford Township police are investigating the burglary.

Turnquist said the family has been posting fliers and spreading word of the stolen urn.

"When Ryan died, I felt a hole in my heart, and now I feel like I'm missing a limb," she said.

"It's not fair, because he went thorugh so much when he was alive. The poor kid just needs to rest in peace."

The Waterford Township police tip line is