After eight hours combing MRT stations along the East-West Line and spending close to $500 on lost-and-found ads, a 23-year-old is still desperately looking for a companion which had been by her side for the last 17 years.

Its name is Radder and it is a yellow shirt-clad white rabbit soft toy.

Ms Ng, who works as a charity fund-raiser, wrote in an online ad on STClassifieds that the toy is more important than her "wallet, handphone and passport combined". She is offering a reward to anyone who helps her find it, but declined to reveal her full name as she is afraid of getting harassed.

Her uncle had given it to her when she was about six years old and it has been with her through thick and thin, Ms Ng told The Sunday Times. She lost the plushie on Sept 27 while rushing out of a train at Outram Park station.

"It's not about who gave her to me. She's important to me because I gave her a personality and she was alive to me when I was young," she said. "She's an extension of my identity, and myself."

The day after Radder went missing, Ms Ng went from station to station along the East-West Line - between Joo Koon and Pasir Ris - and searched random trains for the toy. Her friends helped her to put up "missing" ads on websites such as Reddit, Stomp and Facebook, while she printed posters and put them up on noticeboards in MRT stations and bus stops.

Ms Ng said her family has been supportive and she has received messages of encouragement from friends and strangers. Some have even offered to give her their toy rabbits, but she declined as Radder is "irreplaceable", she said.

Ms Ng added: "I know it's a bit weird for me to go to such lengths for a toy. People don't have to understand, she's just really important to me."

mellinjm@sph.com.sg