Prince George, B.C. -There are glowing candles, and while friends and family gather to mark a birthday, this is no party.  It is a vigil to mark the 22nd birthday of Lucas Degerness, who has been missing since June of 2007.

They have a birthday wish of their own, that Lucas will  be found.Lucas was just 14 when  he left a meeting  at his school  in Prince George where he and his mother  had spoken with the vice-principal.  The teen  left  and spent the night at the home of a friend, then disappeared.

His grandfather, Lynn Parry remains optimistic that his grandson  is out there, somewhere “I think he just  moved on with his life and doesn’t want to have anything to do with us” said Parry  as tears threatened to spill from his eyes.

When Lucas disappeared, Parry says the family  plastered the area  of Prince George where Lucas was known to frequent and where friends suggested he might have gone with flyers.  “We would put up the flyers, and the next day they would be torn down, then someone said they spotted him in the  BCR ( industrial area on the  east side of  Prince George).  We looked and looked, but couldn’t find him.”

There would be  other searches, but none turned up any trace of the missing teen.

(at right Lucas Degerness as he looked at the time of his disappearance  photo 250News archive)

Last year,  a male, claiming to be Lucas,  contacted the Canadian Centre for Child Protection’s MissingKids.ca program in Winnipeg.  All efforts to track down the caller failed says Lucas’ mother Gina Degerness “We don’t know if it was someone playing a cruel   prank, or someone who thought I needed to  have  hope”.  She now lives in Edmonton and  wasn’t able to make it to what  has become a painful  annual event  on the steps of the Prince George Courthouse but here heart  is  with those who  gathered this evening  “I haven’t lost hope.”

But for tonight,  the only positive news is that the weather  held up for the vigil “Last year it was  20 below, and the year before that was just unbearable” says Lynn Parry, but not nearly as unbearable as not knowing what has become Lucas.

“Lucas,  please call us”  is the message Lynn Parry  sends to his grandson.

The disappearance of Lucas Degerness remains a missing person’s case with the RCMP.  Anyone who  may have any information on his disappearance is asked to contact the RCMP or CrimeStoppers

In June 2007, after a meeting at his school with his mom and vice-principal, then 14-year-old Lucas spent the night at a friend’s place before disappearing the following day. He was thought to be carrying a large camouflage backpack. His family has not seen him since that day seven years ago. Lucas’ 21st birthday was this January, another milestone his mom, Gina Degerness, marked without her son.