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Electric Scooter Stolen From Woman Who Struggles With Condition That Impacts Stamina

DENVER (CBS4) - A woman received an electric scooter as a Christmas gift from her family to help her manage a condition that affects her stamina, but less than 24 hours after she brought it home, it was stolen. She hopes someone can help her find it because thieves got it so quickly she was unable to find a way to insure the gift.

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Kaiti Johnson (credit: CBS)

"I was excited, it kind of opened up my world," Kaiti Johnson. "I had so many plans of things that I could do now that I could just like easily zip a few blocks over."

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Johnson has Myalgic Encephalomyelitis, a condition that affects your stamina. She explains it forces 25% of those with the disorder to be homebound. The other 75% often cannot work. Johnson says as a high functioning adult with the condition, she still needs help getting around town. Lifestyle management is the only way to treat the condition and over-exerting yourself can make it worse. Living in Denver's Capitol Hill neighborhood makes it difficult to move around with limited parking.

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(credit: Kaiti Johnson)

"It was kind of life changing to have," she said. "It's frustrating that my world expanded and then shrunk right back down."

She brought the scooter home on the evening of Dec. 26 and it was gone the next morning. She says her auto and renter's insurance would not cover the item because it was neither an item that could be associated with her living space nor was it a licensed and registered vehicle. To classify it as a medical device, she needed a doctor's note and never got the chance to start that process before it was stolen.

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(credit: Kaiti Johnson)

"It makes me really angry actually because it just feels like anyone can do anything to you and there is no recourse," Johnson told CBS4 on Thursday. "The people who can least defend themselves are the ones that end up having to pay the cost."

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CBS4's Shawn Chitnis interviews Kaiti Johnson (credit: CBS)

The Razor EcoSmart Metro scooter was parked and locked outside of her building to a tree on the same block. She says her apartment complex does not have an accessible entrance and even on the first floor, she has to climb a flight of stairs and she would not be able to carry the scooter.

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There isn't a ramp inside the building either. She says the suspects who stole the scooter appeared to have some tools and left debris next to the tree. There were foot marks for three people and they had to bend the metal on the sign next to the tree, according to Johnson.

"I think it's easy to look at things like electric scooters and different things that seem silly to able-bodied people, that seem like a luxury to able-bodied people," she said. "That are a huge help to people with chronic illnesses and especially invisible illnesses."

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Johnson did report the theft to Denver police and tried to file a claim for insurance. She says the entire experience is not only upsetting because of the loss of the scooter but also because of the challenge it represents for her condition. She says it is hard to get access to disabled services and the scooter would have been a way to avoid that process but still get the help she needed.

"Just because something seems like it's a luxury, doesn't mean it is, a lot of times it's really essential."

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