Merle Lien's return to the Yukon last week began on a sour note.

Lien, a 79-year-old Haines Junction resident, had his laptop stolen from the Erik Nielsen Whitehorse International Airport after returning from chemotherapy treatment for lymphoma in Vancouver.

Lien told the Star today the computer could have been snatched at one of two times after his Air North flight landed last Tuesday afternoon: when he and his daughter-in-law were loading a luggage cart with Lien's checked baggage, or when the two were loading his car, which was parked right beside the entrance.

Lien's Asus computer, which he estimates to be worth between $1,200 and 1,500, was sitting in the luggage cart with a personal information tag when it vanished.

The laptop was given to him as a gift from his son, Matthew, a well- known Yukon musician who has found fame in Taiwan.

"We were very close to the computer the whole time, except for when we were distracted by loading my 50-pound bag onto the cart,” said Lien.

"But we never could have been further than a few feet away from it.”

Lien used the computer to write e-mails to family and friends and to store pictures.

He also browsed the web to find information on alternative medicine solutions for his cancer, which he was diagnosed with last winter.

These are the solutions, he said, that you just can't "squeeze” out of regular doctors.

Debra Ryan, Air North's marketing manager, said last week's situation is a rare occurrence for the Whitehorse airport.

She said another passenger might have accidentally taken the laptop with his or her own luggage and will return it to the airport or to Lien himself.

But with a week having elapsed since the incident, Lien doesn't think that's possible. Theft, he believes, is the only option.

"Theft is the lowest thing there is,” he said. "I wouldn't have much to say to this thief, other than I'd like to clobber him.”

He believes there is a lesson to be learned from all this.

"Everyone should be aware that they're probably being watched if they have something of value on them,” he said.

Lien said his only hope in finding his laptop is the fact that it is a very new and unique brand of computer.

As far as he knows, he had the only Asus computer in the Yukon.

The notebook computer was in its soft computer case with personal information tag attached.

After his first series of chemotherapy treatments, he arranged for a brief return to the Yukon to complete some work on his Haines Junction house before snowfall, and before an undetermined future of cancer therapy and health consequences.

"I've lived in the Yukon for more than 40 years, and this is the last place I would expect this to happen,” said Lien.

"It felt good to come home again, but this is not the homecoming I was expecting.”

Anyone with information can contact him at his home at 634-7049, or e-mail info@matthewlien.com.

Lien reported the missing laptop, which is not insured, to the Whitehorse RCMP last Wednesday.

No one from the RCMP was available for comment before press time this afternoon.

By Nadine Sander-Green

Star Reporter