It so happened that Stacey Fakes got pregnant as a teenager. By the time of the baby’s birth, she had just turned 15 years old. For this reason, the girl gave up her newborn son for adoption.
Immediately after the birth, the child was taken away, then Stacy thought that she would never see her son again.
However, in November 2017, Pennsylvania passed a new law that allowed people in foster care to obtain their original birth certificate information. This was good news for Stephen Strawn.
When Straun learned about the new law, he knew he wanted his information. Within a month, he received his birth certificate, which contained information that had previously been lost.
“It was a big sigh of relief,” he shared with Inside Edition after learning his birth mother’s name.
Straun searched Facebook for the name Stacey Fakes. He managed to find a woman that looked like she could be his mother.
I messaged her and said, ‘Hey, I have a really weird question,'” Straun said. “I said, ‘Did you give up a boy for adoption in 1982?’ She said, ‘Yes.’ I said, ‘I think you might be my biological mother.’”
It turned out that Fakes, who had been trying to find her son but was unsuccessful, and Straun had a lot in common, although they had not seen or spoken to each other for 35 years.
Although Fakes lived in Ohio, she entered the Pittsburgh Half Marathon as part of Team Red, White and Blue (RWB), an organization that included Straun, who lived in Pennsylvania. Straun was also planning to take part in the same race.
A plan matured in Straun’s head, which he decided to implement on the day of the race.
As Team RWB gathered before the race, someone handed Fakes a card. The card read: “It’s been 13,075 days since you last saw me. I didn’t want you to wait another day.”
Her mouth was dry.
“We hugged probably ten times,” Straun said. “We finished hugging, looked at each other and hugged again. It was just surreal because it all happened so quickly.”
The mother and son duo completed the marathon as one team, apparently making up for lost time.
LOVE – that this young mother continued her pregnancy, LOVE – that she gave her son to a loving family who wanted to adopt him and share their LOVE with him, LOVE – that they met again.
Pass on this article if you’re glad these two were finally able to reunite.
