Missing Teddy Bear Found — But Did Ryan Reynolds Pay Up?

[July 31, 2020: Fatherly]

After last week’s news that Canadian 28-year-old Mara Soriano had a deeply important teddy bear stolen from her in the midst of a move to a new home in Vancouver caught international attention, there have finally been some positive developments in her case. After news outlets rallied around Soriano — and after they learned the story of why the teddy bear was so important to her — and Ryan Reynolds, fellow Canadian, movie star, and Blake Lively’s husband, said he would pay $5,000 to anyone who returned the bear, no questions asked. Well, it appears that some local heroes have returned the bear that meant so much to Mara.

But why was the bear so important to her? It turns out that the bear had a recording of Mara’s late mother in the paw that she could squeeze. Her mom, who passed away of cancer last year, had recorded the recording before she entered hospice — and to Mara, “At hospice her voice was different. Much softer. Not the mom I grew up with. That bear is the last memory I have of her speaking in her normal voice.”

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Well, luckily, her calls to action (and Ryan Reynolds’ monetary incentive, no doubt) have helped Mara reunite with her special teddy bear. According to WHIOTV, due to the widespread interest in the story, surveillance video was found that showed a man carrying the bag that contained the bear (among other documents which were not as important to Soriano as the bear), and this week, two men found the bear and returned it to Soriano.

According to them, they took the bear from the man who had stolen the bag in the midst of her move. Now, Maria is reunited with an important token of her mother. But of course, the real question is, did Ryan pay those who helped her find her bear? It’s unclear, although he retweeted the news that she had been reunited with the stuffed animal.