Transcripts For WPVI Nightline 20150430

Shine bright this season. Shop our Super Saturday sale. Get 10 off when you spend 25 or more with coupon. Im going to shine on jcpenney when it fits you feel it. This special edition of nig this is a special edition of nightline face to face. Good evening. Tonight, you are going to witness one womans extraordinary and emotionally fraught quest to solve the mystery of her own birth. She on the hunt for her biological mom who gave her up for adoption. And we are with her every step of the way as she unearths the clues that lead to a dramatic lifechanging conclusion. Heres my coanchor byron pitts for our series face to face. Reporter a baby born on a fall day in ohio. For that girl now grown up so much about herself is a mystery. Who i look like. Where i got my giant teeth. Why i was different than my sister or my mom and dad. Reporter Teresa Stinson was adopted and for the entirety of her life her past has been sealed. But just last month, a celebration both historic and humbling. Teresa joined hundreds of ohio adoptees who for the first time can request their birth certificates single piece of paper that could bring them face to face with the parents who gave them life. How big of a day was it . Probably one of the biggest dices of our lives. These were the first in line to obtain their original birth certificate. Joining her sister by adoption vanessa knox. Good morning. That will be 20. I feel like im going to throw up. They were born in ohio and this law that was passed opened records for adoptees between 1964 and 1995. It affected 400,000 adoptees. Reporter ohio is the newest of only 12 states to open adoption records. Teresa stinson and her sister grooe grew up in Middle Branch ohio north of canton. They say theirs was a happy childhood, but like so many adoptees they have long wondered what is their medical history . Who are they . Millions of questions, where did i come from . Did my birth mother think of me. Think of you or want you . Both. My mom would say your birth mother loved you so much that she gave you away so we could take care of you. Reporter did you buy that . Absolutely not. That was innate for me. Even as a young child that didnt make sense. No matter what i always thought poorly of myself. I was never pretty enough, never talented enough never enough. Because in your mind your mom didnt want you. Right. She didnt want you. Reporter she said it wasnt until recently that she considered her mother might be looking for her. Reporter you never considered that before . Never. For some reason it was easier to believe i wasnt good enough. It would be too painful for me to hope to have a hope that gosh she might be out there looking for me. Reporter teresa applies for a birth certificate and waits for the letter in the mail. Thank you very much. Reporter this is the first step on a journey 47 years in the making. Meanwhile, her sister vanessa starts to look for her sisters birth mother and finds a post on an adoption registry website. I thought i will type in teresas birth date on the registry was her birth mothers name and she had registered in 2001. Reporter there was more teresas possible birth mother attended Lake High School more than 40 years ago. The same school her son attends now. Im feeling incredibly nervous. It will be interesting to see if there is family resemblance or anything. Reporter teresa and her husband jimmy drive to the school in search of old yearbooks hoping for a portrait a snapshot a glimpse of the woman who may have given her life and then gave her away. Can we see some old yearbooks . Im going to look at this one. See if we can find her. I dont know. The first thing i wanted to do is look at pictures and see if i could glean anything from that. See if i was maybe really like her, if we had anything in common, i guess. Reporter there it is in black and white. I think she was adorable. Like looking in the mirror. Reporter like pieces to a puzzle her portrait of a past unknown is coming together. I havent even opened my birth certificate yet to get confirmation of all of this on paper. Reporter teresa and her sister know be careful what you pray for. The past she seeks could be dark and painful, which is why the supportive sister vanessa is holding back in her own search. You dont know what you are going to find. Once you go there you can never come back. I think this is where we go. Reporter hoping to find strength in fellow adoptees, teresa attends a meeting hosted by the Adoption Network in cleveland. Oh gosh. I didnt think i would cry. Sorry. Reporter here she chooses to open her birth certificate. Theres no turning back. I am opening this. I think i already know some things in here but there are questions that i hope will be answered by reading it. Okay. So people were saying what they were named. My birth mother gave me the same name as my adoptive parents. My adoptive parents did not know what my birth mother had named me. Reporter how do you explain that . Because im a person of faith and i think is is totally gods plan. I think it is a little wink from him and he is saying listen i have a plan for your life and im going to show you this has been your name all along. You are who i meant you to be. It confirmed that i knew my birth mothers name which is great. It is proof that im real. Reporter that name led to a real phone number. There we go. Reporter the next day, teresa is ready to make the call. My heart is racing. Reporter reach out to a stranger and hear her birth mothers voice for the first time. Hi chris. How are you . I was wondering if i could talk to you for a moment. I didnt know if you were aware but they just opened adoption records in ohio. I just opened my birth certificate yesterday and the birth mother on my birth records was christine lewis. Im pretty sure that im the person that you have been looking for for a while. Reporter on the other end of the line is teresas birth mother Chris Shirley. She had been waiting for this phone call for 47 years. You are kidding me . Im not kidding. Kathy could be my daughter. Could be my daughter. Thats my daughter. My daughter. Well i just want you to know i didnt ever want to give you up. Rfr what was it like to finally know . That was really cool. That was really cool to hear that. I wanted to make sure it was okay that i called you. Oh for heavens sake, i have been looking for you for years. Reporter when we come back see what happens when they meet. This is her street. Oh, my gosh. Oh my gosh. Reporter a blood line no longer broken. Stay with us. This is my body of proof. Proof of less joint pain. And clearer skin. This is my body of proof that i can fight Psoriatic Arthritis from the inside out. With humira. Humira works by targeting and helping to block a specific source of inflammation that contributes to both joint and skin symptoms. Its proven to help relieve pain, stop further joint damage and clear skin in many adults. Doctors have been prescribing humira for nearly 10 years. Humira can lower your ability to fight infections, including tuberculosis. Serious, sometimes fatal infections and cancers including lymphoma have happened, as have blood, liver and nervous system problems, serious allergic reactions and new or worsening heart failure. Before treatment, get tested for tb. Tell your doctor if youve been to areas where certain fungal infections are common, and if youve had tb, hepatitis b, are prone to infections, or have flulike symptoms or sores. Dont start humira if you have an infection. Visit humira. Com and talk to your rheumatologist. Humira. This is a body of proof at red lobsters create your own seafood trio. If it looks tasty you order it. Choose 3 of 9 dishes for just 15. 99. Like baked lobster alfredo. Brown butter shrimp scampi. And soyginger salmon. Hey, this is my plate. Get yours while you still can. Reporter were back now with the story of a long lost mother and daughter each on a separate quest to find one another. After decades of searching, what will happen when they actually come face to face . Here again my nightline coanchor byron pitts. Reporter at age 47 Teresa Stinson is on a mission, searching for the mother she never knew. Her birth mother Chris Shirley now 66 years old has always prayed for the baby girl she gave away four decades ago. I gave up hope as the years went on because i thought, well when she was in her 30s, surely she would want to know who her birth parents were and in her 40s, i did i was giving up hope. I was giving up hope. Hi is this chris . Reporter with one phone call hopes restored. Thats my daughter. Reporter on this day, birth mother and daughter will meet for the first time. Its just surreal. Just surreal. I cant wait to see her. The last time i saw her, i looked through a glass window and i saw her little fingers and part of her head. The last thing i said to her is i love you baby girl and i walked away. And that was it. Reporter teresa and her adoptive sister have flown to orlando, florida, to meet chris. Ready . Reporter their hotel r5078 room a few minutes drive from chris home. Okay. This is her street. Oh my gosh. I got to go. Sorry, i have to go. Oh, my gosh. Hello. Oh my gosh. You are real. How are you . How are you . Oh my gosh. Reporter silence said more than words. A bond time nor distance would break. I looked at you and look at your face. Oh my goodness. Lets see if we are the same height. I met her for the first time and i felt like i was hugging my little baby. I have to see your fingers. Same fingers. The last thing i saw of you. Oh my fingers. Oh. Yep. Little bitty fingers. I brought my baby book for you to see. You did . The baby book with every milestone recorded. Oh, my gosh she lists your weight. This is two years after you were born. Wed call kathy and id say now she is 2 now she is 3, now shes 4. Now shes 5. And that was you. Uhhuh. Oh look so much like me at that age. Oh my gosh. Oh boy. Lost years. But turned out okay. Yep. Reporter for chris, although more than 40 years have passed she still holds on to old wound. Chris and teresas bert father were childhood sweet hearts. They were in the chorus together. He was her escort on the homecoming court. I fell in love with my childhood sweet heart. We were in uniontown, graduated from Lake High School and wound up pregnant and wanted to get married. It didnt work out. I didnt want to give her up. I just didnt want to. Back in that time it was a very, very shameful thing to have happen. Reporter if garl to get pregnant unmarried. Absolutely. Reporter you felt that shame . Yes. I felt it because everybody around me was making me feel like that. Reporter in 1967 to be pregnant and not married and 17 years old was considered a disgrace. So chris was sent to a home for unwed mothers. Do you remember that day when you had her . Oh yes. Very well. Reporter who was with you . No one. I was by myself. I remember waking up at one point and having about 12 nurses at the bottom of my feet watching the delivery for educational purposes i guess. But i do remember afterwards my dad came in and kissed me on the forehead. Burg the actual labor, nobody was with me. Reporter what did he say to you . Do you remember . He just said, i love you did you hear the new baby cry . No. Touch her. Wouldnt let me. Wouldnt let me hold her. Reporter why . I dont know why. I guess they didnt want that bonding between the mother and child. But i walked down to the nursery. I dont know if i was supposed to do that or not but thats when i saw her and saw her little hands and her pretty face. Reporter chris later went on to marry and have more children two sons and a daughter but says not a day went by when she didnt think of the baby girl she gave away. Reporter she was born october 17th. You had a son. Jimmy was born he was close to being born. I asked my doctor to please induce labor because i didnt want it the same date. Reporter why . So he was born october 15th. Reporter why . Because i wanted to save that day special for her. Reporter what do you think listening to her . Makes me sad. Really sad. Because she had to suffer. Thats awful. Im a mom. So i cant imagine having to go through that. I cant even reporter what kind of questions were you asking . What were you experiencing . I felt guilt all the time. Reporter why guilt . Because i felt like god blessed me with three children but i left one behind. Reporter you havent let her go since we sat down. No because i love her fingers. [ laughter ] ill never let her go again. If i had to go it over again, if i had a doover, id march in there and said im taking my baby and ill make it any way i can, but i got her today. I feel like i dont know, i feel like im pretty complete. I see where i got my personality. I see its weird, the mannerisms some likes. Reporter what similarities have you noticed so far . Claustrophobic for one thing. Well claustrophobic. We look a lot alike at that age. We like blue flowers. Yes, we like blue flowers. A lot of the same foods. Yeah. It has been very comfortable. Yeah comfortable. When we met, it was like she was never gone. Reporter has been any down side to it . Anything disappointing or less than for either of you . Nothing. Nothing. I cant think of one thing. Other than it didnt happen sooner. Reporter mother and daughter reunited starting a new chapter together. For nightline, im byron pitts in orlando, florida. Just an extraordinary report and our thanks to byron pitts for that and our thanks to teresa and chris for letting us tell their story. Well be right back. This special edition of nightline is brought to you by macys. Nexium® 24hr. Its the purple pill the 1 prescribed acid blocking brand available without a prescription for frequent heartburn. Get complete protection. Nexium level protection™ at perdue, we know fresh chicken. Well, not that kind of fresh. But we do take extra steps in our farms, trucks that deliver daily and everywhere in between. To bring you a fresh tasting chicken. Perdue. We believe in a better chicken. [leaves rustling] are you day dreaming . Hmm . Yeah. About a luxury tree house . Mmm hmm. With lookout decks for star gazing . Yeah. Cool wait. How. . Youve got the new instant game from the pennsylvania lottery. Oh yeah the wizard of oz with top prizes of 300,000. Theres a full moon tonight [male announcer] want to see your dreams come to life . You could scratch your way to instant winning. The pennsylvania lottery. Bring your dreams to life. At perdue, we know fresh chicken. Well, not that kind of fresh. But we do take extra steps in our farms, trucks that deliver daily and everywhere in between. To bring you a fresh tasting chicken. Perdue. We believe in a better chicken. Finally tonight, a lot of people will go to ridiculous lengths these days for a great picture, great piece of video, but what about ridiculous heights . They are the daredevils of dubai. Plummeting more than 1300 feet from princess towering the worlds second tallest residential building. Flipping and free falling before floating safely down to earth. These skyhigh acrobatics were part of a weeklong event where more than 500 participants took the plunge. Me i think id rather take the elevator. Given the option id also take the stairs. Thank you for watching abc news. Tune in to gma in the morning. We are online 24 7 and online, on our facebook page. Good night. [dramatic music] hey, hey, hey. Hey [cheers and applause] yeah, terry im terry crews and i guarantee were gonna have some fun today right here on millionaire [cheers and applause] with a collection of over 500 chicken souvenirs, you may think our returning contestant might be chicken today but she says the only road shell be crossing will be the one that leads to a Million Dollars. From roslindale, massachusetts please welcome Ann Hopps Morgan hi, everybody. [cheers and applause] how you doing, ann . Good to see you again. How are you . Come on back here. I am excellent. Wow. Now, what would you do when you get the Million Dollars . [laughs] well, weve got some nieces and nephews who could use some help with their educational expenses, but theres always a room for a few more chickens in the coop, terry. I hear you. I hear you. Youd get some live chickens. All right, here we go. Well, its great to see you. And just to recap, you are still battling your way through round 1. So far, youve banked 16,500. Yes, yes, yes. And you are just 10 questions