من الأشهر اليوم؟

I met Times Colonist reporter Louise Dickson when we were both were covering a high-profile murder trial. I was in the third trimester of my pregnancy, and shared with her my fear of my water breaking during the trial. Thankfully, that didn’t ­happen.
After sitting near her in court for many days and getting to know the face behind the byline, I have always been a fan of Dickson and her writing.
Last Sunday, I was immediately drawn to the article about Baby Jessica, who grew up to be Adriana Jessica Bonner, written by Dickson.
As I read the article about a newborn baby abandoned in a gym bag on Triangle Mountain in 1986 born to a 17-year-old girl, I was captivated. There were components of the story that I deeply connected with.
In my column, I’ve written before about being adopted. I am not upset I was adopted, it’s part of what makes me, me.
I was born to a 17-year-old girl, and like Bonner, my birth mother also hid her pregnancy. No one knew she was pregnant until 10 minutes before I was born.
Five years ago, I connected with some biological family members on my birth mother’s side, including my birth mother.
She told me she remembers getting to the hospital and being pushed in a wheelchair by someone who was running to get her into a room quickly. It was the early 1980s, and as soon as I was born, I was whisked out of the room and my birth mother never got to see me, hold me or even say goodbye. She was asked to keep me a secret. Only one family member knew I was born.
I am grateful to the connection I made and conversations I had, but I am still a secret outside of their immediate family. Bonner shared her feelings about being kept a secret by her birth mother, and it’s an experience I deeply connected with.
I don’t think it’s a story told very often, and I am grateful to Bonner and Dickson for making that happen.
I am not upset with my biological family for keeping me a secret. I haven’t walked in their shoes, and I am glad to have had the opportunity to learn where I come from. Even without harbouring ill feelings, it’s a strange place to be.
When I think of my own birth mother and Bonner’s birth mother both being pregnant at 17 and hiding it from everyone, it sounds absolutely terrifying. I can’t imagine what it would be like to hide a pregnancy, and the stress and fear that would go along with that.
In the article, Dickson did an amazing job capturing the emotions that come with entering the world in a traumatic way.
When I read about Bonner connecting with her birth father and reading that the two of them were saddened by all the lost years, it brought me back to when I connected with a sister I never knew I had.
Jennifer was three years younger than me. We would chat online and talk on the phone, and we had a lot of things in common. Our childhood photos side-by-side looked nearly identical. At that time, my sister had Stage 4 breast cancer and was very sick. She flew to Victoria to meet me and my daughter and we spent four days together. It was an emotional time because I knew when I said goodbye to her, I would never see her again.
Jennifer died shortly after our visit.
I hadn’t thought about that chapter in my life for a while, and it was this article that brought it all back.
I am so grateful that Bonner was open to sharing her story and all the raw emotions that come with it. It’s important that we hear these stories. I appreciate the courage it takes to share such a story, and it helps others know they are not alone in their experience.
It’s a fascinating story, and I am sure many readers recall Baby Jessica being found in 1986, and were pleased to hear an update.
If we take something away from Bonner’s story, it’s to find ways to support teens who are in these situations and let teens know that they can ask for support without judgment. Choices we make when we are young can haunt us our entire lives, and they affect all parties involved.
charla@makola.bc.ca
Charla Huber is the director of communications and Indigenous relations for M’akola Housing Society.