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They�re more than snapshots Broyles family photo The Broyles family will be reunited with their pictures of a June fishing trip to Medco Ponds after friends recognized one of their photos in Sunday�s Mail Tribune. The Broyleses� camera was stolen with the film still inside shortly after that day; the photos were published in hopes the camera�s owner could be found. From left are Cheryl, Clint, Matt and Grant. To mom with cancer, once-stolen photos are more precious than ever By Mark Freeman It was a wonderful family trip to Medco Ponds near Butte Falls for the Broyles family in early June, one of their last before tragedy would make days like it seem so much more special. That day, 18-month-old Clint Broyles caught his first fish, then cried when he had to share the family�s one fishing pole with big brother Grant. Cheryl Broyles snapped pictures of it all. Then she placed her Nikon 35mm camera on their pickup�s hood and shot a family portrait under a Ponderosa pine, but 3-year-old Grant turned his head just before the timer tripped the shutter. Shortly after that day, thieves broke into their rural south Medford home and stole their camera with the film still inside without the Broyleses ever knowing they were victimized. A month later, Cheryl was diagnosed with brain cancer, had surgery and was told she might not see Clint�s fourth birthday. "With everything going on, I didn�t even know the camera was even missing until last week," says Cheryl, 33. "The doctors were telling me my memory would go soon. I thought I had just misplaced it." But the camera was returned Monday by police and today Cheryl will get the photographs she took that day at Medco Ponds. The Mail Tribune published one of the Broyleses� pictures Sunday to help stumped police find and return the camera and film stolen by a Medford couple during a summer burglary spree that ended in their July 4 arrest. Friends immediately recognized a picture of little Clint with his father in Sunday�s newspaper, solving the whose-camera-is-this mystery for a family in need of some happy endings. "Doctors have given me two to five years," Cheryl says. "Pictures of myself with the kids and family are more meaningful now than ever." Jackson County Sheriff�s Deputy Colin Fagan, who has spent the past two months trying to get the camera and pictures back to their owners, says the results were well worth the effort after hearing of the Broyleses� recent ordeals. "I never expected it to be like this," Fagan says. "I thought we�d hear, �Oh, yeah, we were on a fishing trip with our kids.� That�s it. I didn�t think it would be something as important as this." The camera was the last of more than $20,000 worth of items Fagan says were stolen by Lake Moore and Abrielle Clayton during a burglary-robbery spree that ended after a police chase July 4 near Jacksonville. Moore and Clayton, both 22, pleaded guilty to various charges. Moore is in prison, while Clayton is on probation after serving jail time. Fagan believes one or both of the suspects entered the Broyleses� home in the Griffin Creek area and stole the camera off a hook near the door. The suspects shot pictures of each other with the camera before it was recovered, Fagan says. But the nine photographs of the mystery family outing prompted Fagan and sheriff�s Lt. Dewey Patten to approach the Mail Tribune for help in finding the family. Cheryl, who is undergoing experimental treatment for her brain cancer, says she thought it was odd that she couldn�t find the camera last week. And though Fagan gave her the camera Monday, it was the photographs she most cherishes. "That day was just a little while before my brain blew up on me," she says. "So you can imagine how important it is to me to have all the pictures I can of me with the kids." Obituaries | Sports | Business | Classifieds | Tempo | Prime Times | So Oregon Sites | Outdoor Journal | Subscribe | Contact | Movies | Advertise | Real Estate Showcase | Archive | Editorials | Letters to the editor | Religion | Wake-up Call | NIE | Cyber Chef | Job Network | So Oregon Weather | WSJ Northwest | Forums | AP Wire | AP Money | F.A.Q. | Awards Ottaway Newspapers, Inc. The Community Newspaper Subsidiary of Dow Jones & Co, Inc Copyright �The Mail Tribune 2000, Medford, Oregon USA