Thieves Rob Sick Long Island Boy Of His Medication

WEST SAYVILLE, NY (CBS 2/WCBS 880/1010 WINS) - A Long Island family has been rocked by a heartless crime.

A group of thieves broke into a home in broad daylight and stole a child's medicine. The burglars also made away with donations recently raised for the young boy, who suffers from cystic fibrosis.

Eight-year-old Eric Antos opened the stockade fence that surrounds his family home. He showed CBS 2's Jennifer McLogan the milk crates that police say the thieves used to gain entrance to the rear bedroom window, where $726 in donations was snatched – along with costly medicine for Eric's cystic fibrosis.

"I'm scared that they don't come back in my house," Eric said. "I don't want them to come back in."

Eric is the poster child for the Long Island chapter of the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation. His community recently held a rally for the boy, and hundreds of donations came in.

LISTEN: 1010 WINS' Mona Rivera reports
LISTEN: WCBS 880's Sophia Hall reports

Police say the home may have been targeted because the fliers listed the family's home address in West Sayville.

"I was hysterical. I've been crying for two days," Eric's mother, Stacey Antos, said. "To think that someone could not only violate my house, but steal from my child."

With his cystic fibrosis medicines gone, Eric's doctor needed to see him at once.

"It's serious, and it's an emergency," Eric's doctor, Dr. Joan Decelie-Germana, said. "We have to replace them immediately."

Eric's family cannot afford to replace the medicines, so their doctor gave them a temporary supply.

Stacey says donations are coming in to help replace the pricey medications, which cost around $2,000 a month, some of which is not covered by insurance.

"I don't care about getting my jewelry back. I just want my son's medications," she told 1010 WINS' Mona Rivera.

The Make-A-Wish Foundation recently granted Eric and his family a trip to Disney World, and it was a beloved keepsake from that trip that Eric misses most after the robbery.

"[They took] my teddy bear from Make-A-Wish," he said.

On Thursday, neighbors stopped by with stuffed animals and Silly Bandz for the broken-hearted boy.

The Antos family says the home invaders were especially cruel. They even tranquilized the family pets, so the dogs never barked when the thieves made their escape.

The neighborhood is now planning two more cystic fibrosis fundraisers for Eric, planned for September 26 in East Islip and again on October 2 in Bay Shore.

If you want to help to replace the stolen medications, you can send donations to P.O. Box 112, Sayville, NY 11782. Anyone with information about the allegedly burglary is asked to call police.