Scott Wallace, right, with his son Colby. In center, is D’Mauri Bonds, with his brother D’Onne Bonds, 7. His grandmother Brenda Bonds is next to the donated chair.

The Providence Journal / Ruben W. Perez

PROVIDENCE — It was around 6:30 a.m. Monday when D’Andre Bonds, 17, brought his baby brother’s wheelchair to the sidewalk and went back upstairs to help his mother get his brother downstairs and ready for the school bus that takes him to Pleasant View Elementary School.

When they came outside with 3-year-old D’Mauri, his wheelchair was gone. D’Andre, his mother, Latarcia Bonds, and his grandmother, Brenda Bonds, searched the area around 75 Congress St. where they live but couldn’t find it.

It was an agonizing turn of events for the family because D’Mauri, who is developmentally delayed and cannot talk, needed the custom-made wheelchair to get to school. After learning that her insurance company wasn’t about to pay to replace the $2,800 chair, Latarcia turned to the media to make a plea to whoever took the chair to return it.

Thursday night there was a happy ending. Gina and Scott Wallace’s 6-year-old son Colby recently outgrew a similar chair that he had been using since he was a year old. Wednesday night, the East Providence couple said they saw an account of the stolen chair on Channel 12.

“My wife said, ‘Isn’t that exactly like the one Colby was using?’ ” Scott Wallace, a district sales coordinator for CVS stores recounted Thursday. “I said, ‘It sure looks like it.’ ”

Late Thursday afternoon, after receiving calls all day from Rhode Islanders offering help, the Channel 12 news crew phoned Brenda Bonds and said there was a family who wanted to donate a similar chair.

When the Wallaces drove up to the house at 6:30 p.m. with the stroller-like chair, Brenda Bonds said she felt ecstatic. While the chair was a tad smaller than the one D’Mauri had been using, she said, it was a perfect replacement. “This is awesome. We’re so grateful.”

Brenda said it was a wonderful end to a very frustrating day. D’Mauri’s mother, Latarcia, had begun experiencing a fever and neck pain on Wednesday and when she went to the hospital to have it checked out, she was told that she had to stay overnight.

It meant that Brenda Bonds had to arrange to have a friend take D’Mauri to school since he couldn’t ride on the bus without the wheelchair. And she had to arrange transportation home as well.

Scott Wallace, whose son, a student at the Meeting Street School, now uses a slightly larger version of the same chair, said he and his wife knew they had to act because they know how expensive the wheelchairs are and how difficult it is to deal with the insurance companies. “It took nine months to get the chair for Colby.”

When completely folded, the chair resembles a collapsible stroller. The chair, however, is much heavier than it appears. “It is very sturdy and is designed for a child with disabilities,” Scott Wallace said.

He said it was fortunate that the need arose when it did. Had it not been for the TV news report, they would likely have donated the chair to Hasbro. “We felt it important to try to give back.”

After the two families gathered on the sidewalk to celebrate the gift, with D’Mauri and Colby side-by-side, accompanied by two of his three older brothers, D’Onne, 7, and Devonte, 13, his grandmother said she could not fathom why someone would snatch a special-needs chair. “It’s a disgrace that anyone would do such a thing.”

tpina@projo.com