AIRDRIE (660 NEWS) – It was a story that gripped the hearts of thousands in Airdrie and beyond and now it has a happy ending.

Last week, 7-year-old Duncan was visiting with family from Nova Scotia when he lost his backpack with his favourite teddy bear inside.

READ MORE: Family pleads for safe return of valuable teddy bear

The bear contains a recorded message from Duncan’s mother who passed away.

A plea was sent out on Facebook and went viral, with thousands sharing the post in a matter of hours.

On Monday night, local artist Heidi Erickson dropped her kids off for an event at Nose Creek Park and when she returned, she said she noticed a backpack at one of the entryways.

“I saw it and was like, that backup looks so familiar to me, but I knew that it didn’t belong to either of my kids. Then I recalled seeing the story on Facebook and so I went over and I looked inside and sure enough, the bear was in there.”

At first, Erickson wasn’t sure if she found the right bear so she posted a picture to her Facebook page.

Sure enough, she did find the elusive bear and was soon put in contact with the family from Halifax.

“They’re super excited and I just think the stepmom is such an amazing person that she cares so much to honour the memory of Duncan’s mom who’s passed away and to make sure he found this bear. I think it’s so cool that our community came together to look for the bear.”

Erickson will bring the bear to the Airdrie radio station AIR 106.1 who will pay to ship the bear back home to Nova Scotia.