UPDATE: The bear made his way home! Read the story here.
Losing a precious kids' toy can be heart wrenching at the best of times.
But for the Jeney family, losing one little bear has been particularly devastating.
Tanya Jeney took to Facebook to ask the public to be on the look out for the bear around Sydney, explaining that the bear represents her second son, who was stillborn.
"The bear only makes it off the shelf once a year for our annual Santa photo, which we had today. We caught the 413 bus from the city and got off on Parramatta road near Leichhardt but little bear remained on the bus, on the back seat," she wrote.
"If you have found him, we would be really grateful to have him back."
Since making the desperate plea, Tanya's post has been shared hundreds of times. But so far there is no sign of the little bear.
Speaking to Essential Baby, Tanya said, "I spoke to the bus company yesterday and this morning, but so far no one has seen the bear."
She also explained just why the bear is so important to her, her husband, and her three sons. "We received the bear at hospital on the day our son Oliver was born still in June 2009. The bear was donated by another bereaved family through Bears of Hope.
"Bears of Hope is a beautiful charity that provides bears to bereaved families so they don't leave the hospital empty handed, so this little bear was in the bassinet with our Oliver after his birth," she said.
Tanya says that she is desperate to find the bear. "My eldest son is devastated. He cried all afternoon and was still sobbing himself to sleep at bedtime last night," she said.
"The younger two boys are okay, I think they're young enough to not really understand the importance of Ollie's bear."
Since appealing to the public to help find the bear, Tanya says that the response has been amazing.
"I've been so overwhelmed by the kindness of everyone who has read and shared my post and prayed for our bear to return home.
"People where checking the back seats of their bus and asking their bus drivers, people who work for the bus company were offering to check the lost and found property as soon as they could, someone from David Jones offered to organise a replacement bear, and someone who has a similar bear offered to donate it," she said.
"If love and kindness was all we needed to find our bear, we would have him back already. I can't tell you how grateful I am for the kind messages and because so many people have shared my post.
"But I am still hopeful that our bear will find his way home."
If you have seen the little bear, contact Tanya via Facebook.