“Things we lose have a way of coming back to us in the end…” – J.K. Rowling, “Harry Potter”

Losing a parent is one of the hardest things we can face in this world. 

As adults, we know that inevitability will happen one day. But for a young child, the loss of a parent feels even crueler.

So you hold onto the memories, the trinkets left behind. 

When Connor Datri, a fifth-grader in Plymouth, Mass., was running during soccer practice he stumbled and fell onto the grassy field.

As soon as he got up off the ground, he knew something was wrong. The necklace he wore was on the ground, the chain all that was there – the heart-shaped pendant it had held was gone. Inside that pendant was something he treasured: a tiny portion of his mother’s ashes.

His mother, Lynelle Leonard, had died three years earlier in a car accident. Since then, Connor and his brother, Alex, 12, had lived with their grandmother, Melissa Moriarty. 

Connor and his uncle searched for the necklace, but they couldn’t find it, Melissa said.

Lou Asci, with Melissa Moriarty and her grandson Connor Datri, holds the silver heart pendant. Photo courtesy of the Asci family

“When they came home, Connor was heartbroken, saying, ‘I lost Mom,’” she said.

We all dropped what we were doing and went over to search for the pendant. But it was gone.”

The young boy was devastated. Melissa was desperate to help him find the missing necklace. She reached out on social media, to a local group, and asked for help.

“My grandson was at west school on the soccer field and lost his mom — this [necklace] has her ashes in it,” she posted on the “All Things Plymouth” Facebook page. “If anyone is going to the field, could you please be on the lookout for this. His mother passed away 3 years ago and this was the only thing he could have of her.”

When local resident Mike Chorzewski saw the post, he knew who to call – Lou Asci, a friend who just so happened to be a metal detector fanatic.

Lou had been given the metal detector as a gift for Father’s Day more than six years ago. Since then, he had been locating lost items for area residents, free of charge.

“It cheapens the hobby if you ask for money to do searches,” Lou said. “I don’t know of anybody who does this for a hobby, then charges people.”

So Lou arrived at the soccer fields with a plan: divide the fields and begin searching in a grid pattern.

“I started with one field and was prepared to search all three,” he said.

Lou’s first search came up empty. So he returned the next night. Still nothing. Determined not to give up, Lou came back a third night. This time he contacted Melissa and Connor, hoping they could show him roughly where Connor had lost the pendant.

Lou Asci found Connor’s missing silver heart pendant in the grass on the West Elementary School soccer field. Photo courtesy of the Asci family

The pair showed Lou where Connor thought he had lost his necklace. After a few hours with no luck, Melissa and Connor left for dinner. Right before bed, Melissa got a text.

“It was a picture of Lou holding the pendant,” Melissa said.

I couldn’t believe it. It was so overwhelming — I was in tears.”

Connor said he couldn’t stop thanking Lou.

“I told him I was very happy to have my mom back and take her home again,” he said.

Lou said he became emotional after talking to the boy.

“You could tell how much it meant to Connor,” he said. “He isn’t a kid of many words, but he didn’t need to say much. I could tell how happy he was, and it meant the world to have his necklace back.”

“His grandmother told me it was the only part of his mother he had left to remember her by,” Asci added. “That right there is why I never give up. It just means too much.”

Watch below for a look at how this determined man helped a little boy.

Sources: Washington Post | People