Missing: 'Puppers,' The Toy That Helped A Girl Through Cancer Treatments

(CBS) -- He was with her at every chemo treatment, every doctor's visit and procedure. He never left her side … until now.

CBS 2's Audrina Bigos talks to a Northwest Indiana girl who's hoping to get her best friend back.

We all have that best friend who knows you in and out and has been with you through thick and thin.

This best friend is smelly, stuffed and stitched with war wounds of a sort.

"Puppers" was given to Madelyn Nate the day she was diagnosed with leukemia and a month before her third birthday.

He went through chemo with her for 2 ½ years.

"She would just hold on to Puppers. He was there for all of it," Madelyn's mother, Kathleen Nate, says.

But Monday night, Madelyn made a mistake in Terminal 1 at Fort Lauderdale's airport.

She accidentally left Puppers on her seat back at the terminal. Her mom's attempts to track down the stuffed animal were unsuccessful.

Madelyn knows there's a chance she may not get him back.

"It will feel like a part of my heart was ripped out," she says.

Southwest Airlines employees have really stepped up to help by checking surveillance cameras, trash cans and the lost and found. They've even posted pictures online.