With Elizabeth Johnston of San Jose dying of cancer, her husband Faber came to visit her on Mother's Day, leaving a digital camera and laptop computer outside in a car in the hospital's parking lot. The gear contained irreplaceable snapshots of Johnston's family meant as a gift to the dying woman, but they were stolen from the car, according to the San Jose Mercury-News.

"It was going to be her Mother's Day present," Faber Johnston told the newspaper. "It's like kicking a guy in the teeth when he's already down. My wife is holding on by a thread and I'm trying to do the best I can to make this comfortable and then this happens."

Officials at O'Connor Hospital confirmed the equipment had been stolen and said that whoever took the items could return them anonymously to the hospital's security department.

The Johnston family has offered a $200 reward and has posted online pleas for the return of the camera and laptop, the newspaper reported.