BARRIE -- "It's just a miracle." Christmas came early for Nancy Ianniello with the return of her cell phone. It's a bit battered, but all Nancy cares about are the prescious digital memories stored on the device - images and videos she feared were lost forever.
"I got all my pictures, all my videos, all my notes from my husband telling me what to do to the house when he was gone," she exclaims.
Nancy and her family said goodbye on Saturday to Mark Ianniello. The husband and father was just 49. He died after a two-year battle with ALS.
Nancy was by his side with their three children throughout his courageous fight, capturing as much as she could on her phone.
A little over a week ago, while out with a friend in Barrie, Nancy lost her cell, and with it the irreplaceable photos and videos that hadn't been backed up.
CTV News reported her story on Saturday, and social media did the rest.
"I will give a $500.00 reward to whoever finds this phone and returns it to the family," one person posted.
Another posted a plea to others. "Let's bring a Christmas miracle to this family and hope it gets returned... as a community let's share this and work together to help these pictures get returned."
And finally, among the hundreds of online comments on the story, Nancy herself added with an announcement to let everyone know she had her phone back.
She says a young woman from Innisfil contacted her on Tuesday evening after seeing CTV's social media post to say she found the cell in the same parking lot where Nancy believed she dropped it.
"Everyone looking out for it ... I had so many people saying they were taking a walk in the area and they were trying to find it," Nancy says.
The digital memories are now backed up, a valuable lesson learned, she says.
While Nancy mourns the loss of the love of her life, she is grateful for the memories they shared together during their 23 year marriage.
"He would just be happy and say 'believe. Believe in miracles, and good things happen - and just wait for it.'"
