A Rock Hill family is holding onto hope after a little girl’s beloved stuffed bunny was lost on a Metro-North train — triggering a viral search and an outpouring of support from strangers across the region and beyond.

Seven-year-old Emilia and her family were traveling from Beacon to New York City Dec. 21 for a holiday day trip when her favorite stuffed bunny, “Sprinkles,” went missing on the ride home.

“We were on our way down to see the Rockettes at Radio City,” Emilia’s mother, Christina Cellini, said. “My daughter was very adamant that Sprinkles comes with us.”

The family spent the day sightseeing — seeing the Christmas tree, having lunch and enjoying the show — before boarding the train back north. But once they arrived in Beacon, Cellini says she got an alert on her phone.

She got the alert because Sprinkles had an AirTag attached, which was worn like a necklace.

“I looked down at my phone, and it says Sprinkles is no longer with you,” she said. “I said, ‘Emmy, where is Sprinkles?’ and I ripped through her backpack, and it was not there. We were like, ‘Oh God, she’s not on the train,’ and then my daughter screamed.”

“She’s seven,” Cellini added. “That was her stuffy. It was awful. Absolutely awful — and there’s nothing you can do.”

Cellini says the AirTag had come loose earlier that evening, and Emilia tried to fix it herself as best she could.

“We’re not exactly sure if the AirTag got separated because it wasn’t on her properly,” Cellini said. “But we watched it bounce on the train a couple times.”

The AirTag last pinged the following day near a waste management facility in Poughkeepsie before going dark.

“I looked at the address, and it was the waste management place,” Cellini said. “They said if it’s in there, it’s gone.”

Still, the family is holding out hope that the AirTag and the bunny were separated — and that Sprinkles was found and placed in lost and found.

“We’re still hopeful that maybe the AirTag got separated and someone found the stuffy and put it in the lost-and-found box and they haven’t connected us yet,” Cellini said.

Cellini says she contacted the MTA immediately and filed a lost-and-found report but has grown increasingly anxious as time passes.

“They told me they have a 75% reunification rate,” she said. “But now we’re three weeks out and we still have nothing.”

With her daughter heartbroken, Cellini turned to TikTok — posting a video asking for help finding Sprinkles. The video quickly went viral, drawing thousands of likes and hundreds of comments from people offering to help, contact Metro-North employees or even search stations themselves.

The story later caught the attention of People magazine, bringing national attention to the search.

“It has been so heartwarming,” Cellini said. “We live in such a wonky time right now, so to have everyone come together — everyone just wanted to see the seven-year-old get her stuffy back. I’m still crying a little bit about how warm people are and how everyone was trying to fix this for her.”

One woman from Connecticut even sent Emilia a replacement bunny that looks nearly identical to Sprinkles. While the family says they are grateful, Cellini says nothing can replace the original.

“Nothing is going to replace her stuffy,” she said. “Even last night she was like, ‘Mommy, I miss the original,’ and I’m like, ‘I know.’”

In a statement to News 12, Metro-North says employees have been searching recovered property with extra care since learning about the missing bunny but so far, Sprinkles has not turned up. The agency says it understands how much the bunny means to the family and will continue to keep an eye out.