A 54-year-old English woman always knew she was adopted as a child. However, it wasn’t until she was an adult that she learned that she had been abandoned. Now, Tina has learned more about her past, including how her biological mother gave birth to her.
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As reported by PEOPLE. Tina appeared on a recent episode of the UK’s Long Lost Family: Born Without a Trace to discuss how she was abandoned outside a Stoke-on-Trent maternity unit by her mother in November 1970.
While the woman always knew she was adopted, she finally learned the truth about her abandonment when she turned 34. Her adoptive mother, Elaine, was the one who revealed the nature of her first moments as a newborn baby.
Tina visited the exact spot where she was left back in 1970, the Haywood Hospital. Naturally, she had many questions. For example, the weather at the time would have been cold, which could have been dangerous for her if it wasn’t for two cleaners who found her.
Most of all, she had questions about her birth mother.
“Maybe she was 16, 17, she lost a job, she didn’t have any money,” Tina said, as per the outlet. “But with no support … because if you had support, you wouldn’t do that.”
Up until that point, Tina knew she had been discovered by the cleaners, who had found her after she answered the doorbell. She was wearing second-hand clothes at the time. Additionally, she also found a newspaper that reported that she was found with a note.
“Please take care of my baby,” the note read. “She is a lovely baby, and I have been turned out of my lodgings because of her. I shall come back for her when I have somewhere to live.”
Revelations
The show’s research team, however, did find out who her biological mother and father were. However, her mother was not ready to meet her at the time. Reportedly, she had kept the secret of her birth throughout Tina’s entire life.
The research team found that Tina’s parents had four children together. Tina was conceived after her parents reconciled for a time following a breakup. Her father, however, never knew about Tina, and instead welcomed another child with a new partner around the same time she was born.
In a heartwarming moment, however, Tina read a letter written by one of her biological sisters.
“Hi. I’m your older sister,” Tina read. “I haven’t come into this lightly. There has been a lot of tears and upset. [Mom] had locked everything away. She has been very protective over her children and now we all know why.”
Tina’s sister revealed that her mother gave birth to her on her couch. Then, she walked 45 minutes to Haywood Hospital, where she knew she “would be taken care of.” The sister added that her mother didn’t give Tina away lightly.
“It has brought a lot of hurt back to [mom] and we are hoping if she meets you, all her pain and hurt will go away,” Tina’s sister concluded. “Looking forward to actually meeting you. Lots of love, your sister.”
Tina understood her mother’s pain and accepted that she wasn’t ready to meet her. However, she was reunited with her sisters for the very first time in the show’s episode.