Woman Reunites With Man Who Rescued Her When She Was Abandoned As A Baby

Kiran Sheikh, a 22-year-old woman who was abandoned by her mother in a telephone box in Forest Gate, East London, UK, just two hours after she was born, has been reunited with the British-Nigerian man who rescued her.

According to Daily Mail, Sheikh’s mother abandoned her because she was in an abusive relationship and was too frightened  to keep her.

Sources say the mother had called the Samaritans and urged them to come quickly for the newborn, but before they could arrive, a man of Nigerian descent, Joe Campbell, who was then 30 years old, found the baby and immediately called the police.

The baby was then taken to Newham General Hospital, UK, where she was given Campbell’s surname and was named April after the month of her birth. She was, however, renamed when another family adopted her.

Campbell, who is now 52, did not forget the baby he rescued and kept sending her gifts and birthday cards for the first seven years of her life until social services advised him to stop.

“I was allowed a picture with her, which I kept,” Campbell said, adding that he asked about adopting the baby himself, but was turned down because he was not married.

Sheikh also never forgot her rescuer, so she made an appeal on newspaper to find him. When Campbell’s colleague at work showed the paper to him, he came forward and the two reunited in Central London.

He said, “This is a beautiful, beautiful day. I am so glad she has got in touch after all this time, I have never forgotten her. I can’t believe she found me.”

Sheikh said, “I am so overwhelmed, this is unbelievable. I’ve been waiting 15 years to meet him and he’s finally here. He was the second person to hold me after my mother, it’s incredible.”

Talking about their reunion on ITV’s Good Morning Britain today, Campbell added, “Well it was emotional, it was happy – Okay, I shed a few tears back whilst waiting, I did my best not to cry yesterday because big boys don’t cry.

“But it’s one of the happiest days of my life because I never stopped looking for her – I was always hopeful that someday, somehow I’ll find her before I finally part this world. She is my family – I told her, I said you’ve got siblings, OK we’re not blood related, but we are.”

Sheikh added, “It was just overwhelming – I’d wanted since I was eight years old, that’s a long time to turn 22, I’m still overwhelmed now. I think it’s going to take a few days to sink in.

“I didn’t think it would happen that quickly. His children were speaking to me yesterday. I’m not angry, I forgive her (my mother), she wrote me a letter saying sorry, I forgive her.

“I would love to just meet her and forgive her completely. I hope she doesn’t feel bad or anything – I would never want her to feel that way.”

Photo credit: SWNS.com