7 On Your Side: Parents of child with cancer get back nearly $10,000

NEW YORK (WABC) -- 7 On Your Side's Nina Pineda helped a couple whose son has cancer get their money back after their tax return and stimulus checks wound up deposited in someone else's account.

"We're fortunate, compared to a lot of people that might have and have gone through this issue," Michon Sirleaf said. "I'm still working, she's still working."

April and Mich Sirleaf are a glass half full kind of family, always staying positive, even though their 5-year-old son has cancer.

"August of 2018, he was diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukemia," April said.

The kindergartner is now in remission but needs treatment until 2021.

TheSirleaf's were hoping to put their tax refund and stimulus money toward his medical bill.

"Having that to be able to pay off some of those bills that come in from the hospital would be wonderful," April said.

An accountant filed their federal taxes and they were supposed to get $6801 in tax refund and another $3,050.15 in stimulus money.

"At first we didn't know what happened. It took us waiting for the IRS to open up to finally be able to find out what happened," April said.

They found their money -- $9,851.13 -- gone, deposited in another person's account.

"The people that received the money should have immediately said, 'we've got money in our bank account that doesn't belong to us.' I mean our names show up on your bank statement when it's from the IRS," April said.

the Sirleafs say their accountant's office goes to them, so they appealed to the IRS and the receiving bank to return their money. They even went to the police to file a report, but nothing worked.

"She's like I'm furious," Mich said.

"And I felt sick. I really felt sick," April said.

So they called 7 On Your Side and we contacted the accountant, the bank and even tracked down the person who had their money.

Within days it was all returned and they were issued a new check.

"A month happens, we start conversing and then all of a sudden, 'well look at that,'" Mich said.

The money was deposited into the right account this time - theirs.

"We are very happy and so thankful," April said.

The accountant's office apologized and blamed the problem on new software.

The big takeaway, if you're filing a tax return electronically, make sure you check your bank account and your bank routing number very carefully.