Unlike her stolen computers, Michelle Courville can't replace a priceless photo and video collection of her late son.

"It's all we have of our son and we just want those memories back," said Michelle, whose five-year-old son Thomas died in 2008.

Computers and an external hard drive containing memories of Thomas were snatched from a home in Courtice, Ont., just east of Oshawa, early Monday morning.

Michelle recalls coming home that day and realizing something was amiss.

"When I came in the house, I checked our living room and our (television) unit was flipped over," she said. "My first reaction was like, ‘Oh no.'"

Whoever broke into the Courville home made off with an external hard drive, a 52-inch LCD TV, a Panasonic video camera and two 17-inch Acer laptops.

The Courvilles are now pleading for the safe return of a one-terabyte hard drive that was attached to one of the laptops and contained memories of Thomas.

Michelle says the family had been in the process of backing up the photos and videos of their son, who was born with a genetic disoreder.

"We'll never forget him, but it's nice to look at those pictures again," said Michelle. "It's nice to see those videos especially."

Thomas' father recalls how each video detailed important moments in his son's life.

"For Thomas a milestone was huge -- a laugh was a milestone," said Ed Courville.

Durham police canvassed neighbourhood homes Tuesday, searching for the stolen items. Detectives told CTV Toronto that the culprit was likely someone in the neighbourhood who knew there was a large television in the family's living room.

Police are asking anyone with information about the crime to call police at 1-888-579-1520 extension 1736, or to call Crimestoppers at 1-800-222-8477.

With a report from CTV Toronto's Austin Delaney