GEORGETOWN, Colo. — Sophie Egan and her husband Rob Egan have been through it all together. They drink their coffee together in the morning and from time to time they go on walks.
Sophie has also been right by her husband's side since he suffered a major stroke three years ago.
“The doctors actually told me he’s not going to make it, and if he did make it, he would never be able to speak, understand language, eat or really function anymore, and he’s beat all of those odds," said Sophie.
Not only has he beat those odds, he's surpassed them.
A couple of years ago Rob was able to get his driver's license with the help of an adaptive driving program.
“That was just monumental. It just gave him a little bit of freedom," said Sophie.
Because the right side of Rob's body isn't as strong as it once was, he does require adaptive equipment in a vehicle in order to drive.
That equipment was installed in a vehicle given to the Egan's by Rob's father, but unfortunately the vehicle was left unusable after Sophie got in a car accident.
Since then, it's been her mission to buy him a new vehicle, which she found a couple of months ago.
“I’m looking and looking and looking, trying to find the most reliable [vehicle]—something with low mileage, something in our price range, which is not much. The night before, we were going to go shopping for a car and an automatic Jeep popped up," she said.
For Rob, getting a Jeep Wrangler was significant. The car he drove before the stroke was a red Jeep Wrangler, which he can't drive anymore because it's manual.
“Everyone kept telling me, 'you need to get him a Jeep. You need to get him a jeep.' And I was like, 'I think this is the world telling me I need to get him his Jeep,'" said Sophie.
After buying the black Jeep Wrangler, Sophie and Rob took it to United Access, where it was set to be adapted to include the technology Rob needs to drive.
But the next morning she got a call the vehicle was nowhere to be found.
“We now don’t have the jeep for him," she said.
Sophie added she reported the Jeep missing to the Wheat Ridge Police Department.
A spokesperson confirmed the vehicle had been stolen and a report had been filed.
Now, the Egan's are left waiting, and hoping police find the Jeep.
“It was his independence, and it was his joy and trying to get a little bit of his life back that he used to have," said Sophie. “He was really looking forward to having it.”
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