ANDALUSIA, Ill. - Little more than 24 hours ago, Rick Gilliland thought his dream of seeing the ocean one last time might not come true.

But after Friday, the Andalusia man now happily is planning a tropical vacation with his family.

Gilliland, 54, who has Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis, or ALS, was devastated after a caretaker allegedly stole $5,100 that Gilliland had saved for a surprise trip for his family.

ALS, also known as Lou Gehrig's disease, is a progressive, degenerative disease of the motor neurons of the brain stem and spinal cord, characterized by a general weakening and wasting of the voluntary muscles, and eventually complete paralysis. It is of unknown origin and presently incurable, and usually is fatal within two to five years.

Jeffrey Allen Wright, 35, Moline, was charged earlier this week with felony theft for allegedly stealing the money while working in the Gilliland home. Andalusia police arrested Wright, who had been caring for Rick's basic needs on a daily basis for about three months. But authorities say he already had spent the money.

But after Gilliland and his wife, Diane, talked with reporters Thursday to warn the public of the incident, they had no idea the company the caretaker worked for already was getting the money back to the family.

And after days of losing sleep, not to mention hope that he would get his final trip to the seashore, Gilliland was "pleased and somewhat shocked" to receive a visit Friday from Mary Oelschlaeger, president of Trinity Regional Health System's Visiting Nurse and Homemaker Association, or VNHA.

"They gave the check to my husband this afternoon," Diane Gilliland said. "Rick is exhausted, but he said it is a great kind of exhaustion."

Representatives of the home-care agency said they are mandated by the government to do background checks on all non-licensed caretakers, and did so in this case.

"Something of this magnitude has never happened," Oelschlaeger said. "Everyone was astounded. We feel violated, angry and sad."

The Gillilands said they have harbored no blame toward the VNHA, and appreciate all it is doing to make things right.

"In addition to the check, they brought flowers, a very nice card and some gift certificates to the mall," Diane Gilliland said. "They are lovely people and equally as devastated that their employee and co-worker could do such a thing."

"They've done nothing but bend over backwards to help us both now and when they first began serving us in July," she added.

Trinity representatives said the returned money did not come from the agency's insurance company, but directly from VNHA.

"I can tell you that from the moment we found out about this, the first concern was to get his care taken care of," said Cheri Bustos, Trinity's director of corporate communications. "Within a minute after that, we were working to try and make this right."

As for Wright, who has a preliminary hearing Nov. 6, the Gillilands said they feel sorry for the man they had come to consider a friend. They said they believe Wright has suffered a lot of losses in his life that he might not even realize. And although it will be difficult for them to face him, they plan to read a statement at his sentencing.

"I think it will be hard for Rick and me, but I think it will be healing," Diane Gilliland said. "We would like to tell Jeff that it was more than the money; he was part of our circle of friends."

Oelschlaeger said while she is not exactly sure of how many people Wright was caring for, there likely were several.

"We have not heard other complaints about him, but we will be following up on each of the others individually," she said.

Diane Gilliland said she is grateful for the support of friends, family and even strangers who called to offer help. She said the goal always was to inform the public. But now that the money is back, her concentration again is toward planning a trip to get her husband to the ocean.

"I just told Rick that we have to decide when and where we're going and get things planned. Now that we've got the money back, we're going to take the trip soon," she said.