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Holly Shearer from Utah had made what she now calls the most difficult decision of her life. When she was 15 years old, she decided to give her yet unborn child up for adoption.
Being in her sixth month, she began looking for new parents for her son. Through an adoption agency, she made contact with Angela and Bryan Hulleberg. The married couple had been struggling with infertility for years.
The teenager connected immediately with the couple. She decided that the Hullebergs would give her child what she would not be able to provide for him. “He deserved a mother and a father, a home with a playset in the backyard that he can play on, a dog, all of those things I couldn’t give him,” Holly told KSL TV5. Her son, Benjamin, was born in November 2001.
A wonderful childhood
Angela and Bryan rose to the challenge and provided the boy with a wonderful childhood. All the time they were aware that his biological mother truly loved him and had placed him in their care out of genuine concern for his well-being.
Best wishes for his 20th birthday
When Benjamin turned 18, he decided to find his biological mother. Since it was a closed adoption, he knew only her name. Holly had also begun to try and contact her son.
The woman was luckier than Benjamin, who didn’t manage to gather much information. Holly found him on the internet and followed him on social media for several years. Finally, having gathered her courage, she wrote to him on his 20th birthday. She introduced herself and wished him well. The young man was extremely excited and wanted to meet his mother to thank her for her courageous decision to adopt. He understood that her sacrifice had given him a wonderful and safe life.
They work in the same place!
One day, Holly and Benjamin and both families met for dinner. It turned out that the boy was a volunteer in the neonatal intensive care unit at the hospital where Holly works as a nurse!
“Every morning, I would come in through the women’s pavilion to come into work. So I passed right by the NICU every single day. We parked in the same garage, could have been on the same floor, had no idea that we were so close,” Shearer told Good Morning America.
What’s more, Holly and Benjamin had lived about 5 miles apart for many years!
Mother and son are extremely happy that they didn’t give up trying to find each other. As a result, Benjamin was also able to meet his half-siblings!
And today we celebrate...