We’ve heard of the horrific crimes committed against new mothers who were wrongfully misinformed that their infants had passed from complications post-birth, only to discover many years later that their children had been placed with other families. This is one such story, but with the happiest of endings.
Knowing that he’d been adopted, Travis Tolliver, 41, had spent most of his life hoping to one day meet his biological mother, 61-year-old Nelly Reyes. What he couldn’t have known — and indeed, what hadn’t been conveyed to him as a child — was that he was stolen from his birth mother shortly after his delivery.
What Reyes shares with CNN is a narrative we’ve heard time and time again from mothers who’ve been lied to by hospital staff about the wellbeing of their newborns. Some seemingly arbitrary information was provided about the child’s death, no birth or death certificates were provided, and the family never received the child’s body.
After a long and arduous search for his birth mother, Tolliver and Reyes reunited last week in his native Chile. “Now I’m back here in my homeland, I guess,” he tells CNN. When asked why it was important to meet his birth mother, he chokes back tears. “To become whole.”
We wish Tolliver and his mother the very best moving forward. Please SHARE their incredible story!
