25 years after being abandoned by her mother, woman issues an online plea to find her
When Kathleen O’Shea was just days old, her mother left her in the ladies’ room of Baystate Medical Hospital in Springfield, Mass. She never returned.
Now, nearly 25 years later, the mother of two is issuing an online plea to find her birth mother.
“OK, so I’m literally shaking writing this post. It’s taken me a good 25 years to do this,” O’Shea says in a Facebook post.
“My name is Kathleen Ann O’Shea & as far as I know my birthday is June 18th, 1991.”
“My birth mother left me in Baystate Medical Hospital, in the ladies room. I was found June 20th, 1991. Less than 10 days old. I have never met her, nor do I know anything about her. All I know is, she was a minor as they did not release her name in any article.”
She then goes on to say how she herself is now a mother of two, both babies being born at Baystate.
“So technically, if you’re reading this, or ever do, you have two grandchildren.”
She explains that for years she’s been curious about the identity of her birth mother and has been putting off reaching out in fear that she might not want to meet her or that she now has a family of her own. She’s even wondered if her mother might be dead.
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“It’s hard even going to the grocery store, sometimes if I notice a woman with blonde hair & blue eyes & a big head I wonder if it could possibly be you, we make eye contact, you don’t even know who I [am], & we go about our lives.”
O’Shea explains that now she’s a mother herself, she feels like she can better understand the difficulty of the decision her mother made years ago.
“I don’t resent you, or hate you, or hold anything against you. I guess, well, I’m just curious in a way. If you cross my mind every day then I’m hoping I cross yours every day. I guess I just want to see what could possibly help fill the void of not knowing.”
O’Shea finishes the post by asking people to share the story.
“I’m hoping to find my birth mother. if anyone has any tips, ideas, or knows anything or anyone, please contact me! I’m finally putting this out there & I just can’t go on not knowing. Maybe the power of social media will work in my favor.”
So far the post has been shared more than 6,000 times. In a more recent post, O’Shea has vowed to keep her mother’s name private, should she be nervous about coming forward.
“As much as everyone as helped share the picture, it’s really between just her & I. If she has no problem with it going public, great, if not, great.”
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And with the well wishes has also come criticism.
“I’ve been seeing a decent amount of negative comments.. (there’s always those few in the bunch) especially asking why I would even want to meet her since she “abandoned me” (their words, NOT mine) or that if I find my mother I’m just going to go shoot up heroin with her.(assuming she’s drug riddled because she ‘abandoned’ me, yeah, that negative) or that she doesn’t deserve to meet me.”
But she’s trying to stay positive.
“My birth mom is my birth mom. That will always be the same as well! Nothing will change that.”
She also commends her mother for at least ensuring that she was in a safe place before she left her.
“It’s actually ironic that when a mother leaves her baby in a dumpster, or in an unsafe environment, people are so quick to jump & say how she should’ve left her somewhere safe. My mother did leave me somewhere safe & she’s still getting backlash.”
At the end of the day, O’Shea just wants to know who her mother is.
“She gave me LIFE. I’ve given LIFE to TWO children.
I have a wonderful family & I couldn’t be happier. So why try to bash me for attempting to fill a small void?”
What do you think of this woman’s plea after 25 years? Let us know your thoughts by tweeting to @YahooStyleCA.
