'School counselor's car burglarized; cancer-fighting tool is gone'

Copyright News-Ledger March 8, 2006

By Steve Marschke

News-Ledger Editor

  Someone stole $5,200 worth of hope from Barley Parrish.

  Friday afternoon, Parrish’s car was burglarized in the Yolo High School parking lot on Westacre Road, while she was at her job as a school counselor. The thief made off with a “light beam generator” Parrish hoped might help her in her fight against advanced cancer. The unit resembles a computer, with a keyboard and an attached rectangular display including a monitor.

  “I have stage four cancer, and I purchased this thing called a ‘light beam generator’ because I just found out I was becoming resistant to the chemotherapy they were giving me,” said an obviously-distressed Parrish from her home on Monday. “It cost $5,200. It’s supposed to break up tumors and so forth. It’s ‘alternative medicine’, so I don’t know if it works. But it gives me hope.”

  Parrish’s breast cancer has metastasized, spreading to her lymph nodes and other organs. She remains on the job at Yolo High, the local alternative high school.

  The theft occurred “between about 12 and 12:45” on Friday afternoon, she believes. “Someone broke a window on my car and took it out. I would normally have put it in the trunk, but it was so big, I had to leave it in the car itself.”

  Coworkers have posted flyers asking for the return of the device. A reward is offered.

  Parrish just hopes to get the equipment back – no questions asked.

  Anyone with information may call Parrish on her cell phone, (916) 835-6364.

  News story update, March 23 2006:

  Students from Yolo High School helped raise $500 in reward money for the stolen equipment, but it hasn't been returned.

  Meanwhile, Jonathan Davis of Elverta, California, saw a television news story about Barley Parrish and the theft, and wrote her a check for $5,000 to help defray the loss. The man was publicly thanked by the school board of Washington Unified School District in a brief ceremony on March 23. He received a standing ovation from spectators at the board meeting in West Sacramento.