Baby dies days after stolen phone photo plea

Parents are mourning the loss of their baby girl just days after publicly appealing for the return of a phone containing priceless photos of her.

Amiyah Windross’ father, Jay, delivered the heartbreaking news to Facebook on Thursday, sharing the news that he and his wife Dee said goodbye to their daughter on Wednesday at 2.05am.

Baby Amiyah battled an undiagnosed neurological issue from birth and spent her final hours doing what she loved most - cuddling her parents, Mr Windross said.

“Her strength, her courage, and her unrelenting fight was on display from her first breath all the way till her last,” his heart-wrenching post read.

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Just four days prior, on Saturday, the grieving father pleaded for help in locating Dee’s phone, which he said was taken from a bathroom in Melbourne’s Chadstone Shopping Centre.

The Samsung Galaxy S8 with a purple cover contained all of the parents’ memories of their 11-month-old daughter, who at the time was deteriorating in ICU.

“This phone holds the memories of what little life our daughter has had. If you want the phone, we're more than happy to arrange to meet, we'll copy the photos off the phone and you can keep the phone,” he wrote in a post to Facebook.

“What is on the phone is worth more than anything in our life.”

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He asked the phone thief to hand it in to a service desk at the shopping centre, or deliver it to Monash Children's Hospital - no questions asked.

The family is still hoping for the return of the device, which holds hundreds of meaningful memories.

“Amiyah turned our relationship and home into a family and we will forever be grateful that she chose us as parents,” Mr Windross said.

“No matter what, you will forever be in our hearts and we are so proud you.”