After giving up her baby girl, Sue Davies, 62, spent decades searching for her. Now, Sue and her daughter Vicky Blackwood, 43, talk about the Christmas miracle that was their reunion
“My son was three months old when I fell pregnant with Vicky,” says Sue. “I was 19 and worried about how I’d cope as a single mum to two babies, and my stepdad thought it would be too much for someone my age to cope with, so it was decided that she’d be adopted.
“When I gave birth, I wasn’t allowed to hold her in case I changed my mind, but my mum was. Later she told me, ‘One day you’ll meet again’.
“Six weeks later, I saw my baby one last time before she was taken to her adoptive parents. I wasn’t allowed to know who they were so, with no way of contacting them, I thought I’d never see my little girl again. I cried over the years and sent countless messages to online forums for lost families, hoping someone could help me find her. A few tried unsuccessfully, so eventually my search came to a dead end.
“My son had two children of his own and I always wondered if Vicky had any too. I thought about her constantly, especially on her birthday and Christmases.
“Then, after 39 years, my son called me one day and said: ‘My sister has found me.’
“I burst into tears. He put me in touch with her and we had a chat on the phone. Hearing her voice was surreal and we were dumbfounded when we learned we lived less than an hour’s drive from each other.
“We agreed to meet that day in a pub. When Vicky walked in we hugged and I was very emotional. The first words out of my mouth were an apology, but she knew why I’d given her up and didn’t hold it against me, which was a relief.
“Then she showed me a baby picture she’d found in her adoption files as a child. She was three weeks old in the photo and I couldn’t believe she’d had it all these years.
“My eyes welled up with tears and I said: ‘When they took you away it was the worst day of my life.’
“We hugged a lot and talked for hours, getting to know each other. Vicky told me about her two daughters, who I soon met when the four of us had a wonderful day at a Christmas market.
“They went to their dad’s for Christmas Day, but me, my husband, my son and Vicky spent the day together.
“As we tucked into our turkey meal, I looked around the table and smiled at Vicky. To finally have her with us at Christmas meant the world.
“Later, I gave her the necklace I’d bought her with the words ‘mother and daughter’ engraved into it. Then she handed me a beautiful plaque with her baby picture on, as well as a sweet Pandora charm. They were lovely, but getting my girl back was the bes
