Ray,
Just a thought. If the email service you were using (yahoo or the like) has a web based email interface you might be able to log on there and still access the email even though it doesn't download to your inbox on your phone. Has saved me a bunch of times when I accidently delete an email from my phone.
Also, if you can access the email service via a web browser you should be able to use the search feature to locate the email.
Not sure if it will help or not but thought I would throw it out there.
Regards,