When a 16-year-old girl got pregnant, she decided to hide it. She gave birth at home in a bathtub and dropped her newborn son at a nursing home. Little did she know he would take a DNA test 30 years later.
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It’s common to see women get pregnant accidentally and regret it later. Having a child comes with a lot of baggage that many people are not ready for.
The woman in today’s story experienced something similar upon discovering she was pregnant. Three decades later, life surprised her with something she had never imagined.
Danby Paterson. | Source: youtube.com/TODAY
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THE UNEXPECTED NEWS
One day, Danby Paterson, 16, discovered she was pregnant. At that time, she decided not to tell anyone about it. It was difficult for Danby to go through the entire pregnancy alone as a teenager. She recalled while talking to TODAY:
“It was very scary. I have never felt more alone in my life, ever.”
When it was time for the baby to come out, Danby thought her bathtub would be the perfect place to give birth. She gathered supplies and gave birth to her son, Jason, without any medical professional’s supervision.
Danby Paterson. | Source: youtube.com/TODAY
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A DIFFICULT DECISION
Holding Jason in her arms for the first time was an emotional experience for Danby. She nursed him and felt he was a part of him. However, soon, she had to give him up.
Since Danby was a teenager herself, she couldn’t raise a child on her own. After thinking about the pros and cons of keeping Jason with her, she made the difficult decision of giving him up.
“A part of me wanted to hang on to him, and I knew I couldn’t give him what he needed.”
Danby Paterson. | Source: youtube.com/TODAY
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INSIDE THE BANANA BOX
A man named Duff Green found little Jason in a cardboard banana box on the doorstep of the Orange County Nursing Home after Danby left him there.
Green immediately picked up the box and brought the baby inside. Later, Jason was adopted by a kind couple who raised him like their own child.
While growing up, Jason Spurzem knew he was adopted but had no clue about his birth mother. Nearly three decades after she abandoned him, he decided to look for her.
Jason Spurzem. | Source: youtube.com/TODAY
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THE NEWSPAPER ARTICLE
Jason didn’t have any leads except for a newspaper article featuring the story of how Green took in the baby he found at the nursing home;’s doorstep. With the help of his friends, Jason began his search using the names mentioned in the newspaper cutting.
At first, Jason and his friends found many people who remembered the story, but they didn’t know anything about his birth mother. When it seemed like contacting other people wasn’t working, Jason came across at-home DNA testing kits.
He contacted a genetic genealogist, CeCe Moore, who guided him about the DNA testing kit. After taking the test, Moore worked through the results and discovered his mother’s name. Moore said:
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“In Jason’s case, it was very clear that Danby was his birth mother.”
Danby Paterson and Jason Spurzem. | Source: youtube.com/TODAY
HIS BIRTH MOTHER
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Jason searched for his birth mother on Facebook and immediately sent her a message. He told Danby that he was his son, and he found her name by taking a DNA test.
Soon, Danby replied to his message, telling him she had been waiting for this day for so long. She couldn’t believe she would meet her son after three decades.
When she first saw him, she felt he resembled his father. Danby and Jason celebrated their first Mother’s Da together in 2017 and looked forward to doing the same in the coming years.
What do you think about this heartwarming story? Do you think Danby did the right thing by abandoning her newborn son?
Click here to read another story about a mother who read a newspaper and discovered her husband had a baby with another woman.
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