Bridgewater woman with rare genetic disorder drank formula on her porch – Boston 25 News

news7h 08/30/2022

7 1 minute read

Bridgewater woman with rare genetic disorder drank formula on her porch - Boston 25 News

BRIDGEWATER, Mass.- A Bridgewater woman says a package thief who stole boxes from her porch took a month’s supply of formula.

But formula isn’t for the baby, it’s for her.

Alyssa Augusto has a rare genetic metabolic disorder and formula is her main source of nutrition.

“I went into my room and said to my husband, someone just stole my formula from the front porch, and he’s like… what?” Augusto said. “He had an empty Amazon box, so it was almost as if he was faking that he was a delivery man.”

Augusto said she was shocked when she received an alert from the doorbell camera to her phone. The man dropped the empty box, picked up two cans of powdered milk and took off.

Those boxes contain a special recipe that essentially keeps Alyssa alive.

“I have Phenylketonyria or PKU. It’s a rare, inherited metabolic disorder,” says Augusto.

The disorder means that Alyssa can only consume a limited amount of protein. Formula is her main source of nutrition.

Bridgewater woman with rare genetic disorder drank formula on her porch (Alyssa Augusto)

“The sad part is, he’ll open the box and he won’t even know what it is. You can’t find this recipe in the store,” she said. “And it’s not like he can even sell it because the condition I have is so rare… it’ll just become a trash can.”

Alyssa says she has enough formula until she can call her doctor on Monday.

She needed the formula to nourish herself and the six-week-old daughter she was nursing.

“This person is not only endangering my health, but also the health of my six-week-old daughter,” Augusto said.

The empty Amazon box was sent to someone who lived less than a mile from Alyssa. She said she contacted the person and they also had the box stolen from their porch.

Bridgewater Police confirmed they are investigating the incident.