A 15-year-old terminally-ill girl has been left without vital medicine after a thief snatched her mother's handbag.

Eastern Daily Press: A blue Lonsdale bag similar to the one stolen from Louise Debbage at a car-boot sale in Sprowston. Picture: Courtesy of Louise DebbageA blue Lonsdale bag similar to the one stolen from Louise Debbage at a car-boot sale in Sprowston. Picture: Courtesy of Louise Debbage (Image: Archant)

Louise Debbage's handbag was grabbed while she was giving crucial physiotherapy treatment to her terminally ill daughter, Sarah.

And to make matters worse, the bag contained medicine which could help extend the 15-year-old's life, who may only have weeks to live.

Louise Debbage, Sarah's mum, was at a car boot sale at Sprowston Park and Ride in Wroxham Road when it happened at around 12.45pm on Sunday, June 18.

Miss Debbage said she was devastated by the theft.

She said: 'It's hard to believe that someone could stoop so low as to do that.

'It has put a child's life in danger - I would like to know why they think that's a funny thing to do.'

Miss Debbage, who lives in Bignold Road, Norwich, was walking around the sale with Sarah, who is in a wheelchair, when she had a coughing fit.

Miss Debbage said: 'We were quite happy just walking around there. Sarah coughs a lot, so we stopped and I gave her physiotherapy on her back.

'That lasted about 10-12 minutes and when I stopped I realised that the handbag had gone.

'I looked around to see if it had fallen off the back of the wheelchair but it hadn't, so then I called the police.'

Sarah has dystonia, which is a movement disorder similar to Parkinson's disease. It can cause a person's muscles to contract uncontrollably.

She also suffers from damaged lungs, has cerebral palsy and is blind.

Doctors have told Miss Debbage that Sarah's condition was terminal and her life was now 'a matter of weeks, not months'.

The bag held a purse with about £100, drinks and tissues for Sarah and medicine for her called chloral hydrate.

Miss Debbage said : 'Chloral hydrate helps calm her down - she gets a lot more stressed without it and she tires more easily.'

The pharmacist told Miss Debbage the drug was out of stock and she would have to wait up to 10 days to replace it.

She said: 'I have got to keep my fingers crossed that she (Sarah) can do without it until then.'

Miss Debbage said the medicine had Sarah's name on it.

She said she had only bought the turquoise blue Lonsdale bag on Friday.

She said she regularly took Sarah to the car boot sale on Sundays.