Mom Abandons Disabled Son on Street, 20 Years Later He Comes to Her with VIP Entourage — Story of the Day

A mother ashamed of her disabled son is relieved after she abandons him in an unfamiliar city. In a strange twist of fate, twenty years later, he meets her as an escorted VIP.

Nurse Evelyn was late for her shift that rainy Tuesday evening. Just as she stepped down from the taxi at the hospital's entrance, she saw a woman with her face covered in a black shawl pushing a boy in a wheelchair.

Evelyn thought they had come for visitation. "But the door is this way. Where is she taking the boy?" she wondered and followed them. The woman took a diversion toward the backside of the hospital.

As Evelyn entered from behind the wall, she saw the boy was alone on the verandah under the shutter.

"Hey, miss, wait...why are you leaving the boy?" Evelyn shouted and ran after the lady...

Evelyn was drenched by the time she saw the woman fleeing in a cab. She knew the cab driver was from a taxi stand in the neighboring town. Evelyn remembered hailing his cab once when she'd gone for a camp to that town.

"Why did you leave me that day? You promised to come back for me, but you never did."

"Hey, miss, come back!" She ran, but the cab disappeared onto the busy street.

The nurse hurried to the back of the hospital and learned the boy was the woman's son.

"What is your name, and why did your mother leave you here?" Evelyn asked him when he started to cry. He was scared of the thunder and lightning.

"Don't be scared. I'm here with you. Nothing will happen. Tell me...what happened?"

The boy introduced himself as Oscar. He was ten years old and said his mother, Maria, had told him she would return for him.

"She said 'goodbye, son' before leaving. Will mama come back for me? I'm scared. Please, can you take me home to my mother?"

"Can you tell me your address?" Evelyn pressed Oscar for details.

"I dunno...there's a big park and huge buildings...We kept moving after dad died and finally settled in an old trailer," said Oscar.

Evelyn took the boy inside to examine him. Doctors discovered he had a condition in his right leg that needed surgery. Without it, he would be unable to walk and would need a wheelchair to move around for the rest of his life.

"And it is a pretty costly operation, nurse Evelyn. Is his mother going to come for him? It's been four hours, and we haven't received any indication of such. What do we do now? We cannot have this boy here for long," the doctor said.

That's when an idea quickly flashed in Evelyn's mind. She remembered her brother Francis who ran a shelter for orphaned kids.

"I'll send Oscar to my brother's shelter for the time being. Then we will try to find his mother. I think she may be from the town nearby. I remember taking the same taxi and can identify the driver. Maybe he could help us find the boy's mother."

Oscar was sent to the shelter. He was crushed and knew his mother had deserted him, but he didn't know why. Meanwhile, Evelyn visited the town she suspected Maria went, looking for her.

She approached the taxi stand and found the driver who had driven Maria to the hospital.

"Yes, mam! Where to?"

"No, I'm here to find the woman with a boy in a wheelchair. Do you know her? They took your taxi yesterday, remember? Her name is Maria."

"She's not my regular passenger. I haven't seen her often in town. But I heard she lives in an old trailer near the highway."

Evelyn went to the said trailer to meet Maria, but she wasn't there.

Evelyn returned another day, but never found Maria. Her trailer appeared to have been abandoned.

Having lost all hope, the widowed and childless Evelyn decided to give Oscar a new life. Since nobody came forward to adopt him, she legally took him in six months later.

Evelyn dedicated her heart and soul to raising Oscar. She took exceptional care of him. As years passed, Oscar moved on but hadn't completely forgotten his birth mother. He knew Evelyn was his adoptive mother and could not thank her enough for giving him a new life.

Evelyn also paid for Oscar's surgery and he regained his ability to walk. Sometimes, he used crutches for support. It felt strange at first to feel the ground under his feet. He was nervous and happy at the same time.

Evelyn's prayers and efforts reaped sweet fruits when Oscar could finally walk without support.

Growing up, Oscar watched as Evelyn went about her days serving the needy and it inspired him to walk in Evelyn's footsteps. After pursuing a degree in medicine, he became a profound heart surgeon. Eventually, he headed his own hospital in the city, joining the ranks of the most-esteemed A-listers in the medical field.

Despite his newfound fame and wealth, Oscar was not completely happy. It pained him whenever he remembered his birth mother. He wanted to find her, but he worried Evelyn would be hurt. "Of course, I love my adoptive mom, but I want to know why my real mother left me," he thought.

When Oscar told Evelyn about his intention to find his birth mother, she supported his decision.

"I know you love me, sweetheart. But you should find your mother. You need to know why she left you. Please go on."

Having sought Evelyn's blessings, Oscar went looking for Maria in the town she once lived. Escorted by his security team, he searched for the 'woman in the trailer' for weeks. They went to the old camper and found Oscar's childhood pictures there. At the back of one photo, there was an address to a shelter for homeless people.

He went there and immediately recognized the woman working in the shelter's garden. It was Maria.

"Mama!" Maria heard a faint voice of a young man call out to her. She looked up and saw a silhouette of a man and several men in black suits escorting him. She stared and stood still.

"It's me, Oscar," Oscar cried, walking briskly to Maria. She could not believe her eyes. The son she'd abandoned over his inability to walk was almost running toward her.

"OSCAR?? Is it you?" Maria teared up.

"Yes, mama. Look, I'm able to walk, run, and stand. I stopped using the wheelchair many years ago. My mom, Evelyn, gave me a new life."

"Evelyn??"

"Yes, she was a nurse in the hospital where you left me twenty years ago. She adopted me and raised me. Why did you leave me that day? You promised to come back for me, but you never did. What happened?"

Maria's eyes brimmed with tears. After abandoning her son, she tried to move on, but she didn't succeed in finding love or a good job. She scavenged the streets for a living and lived in a trailer. She was sent to the shelter for the homeless after a passer-by found her lying sick and unconscious by the trailer.

"I'm sorry for leaving you, son," Maria began. "I wanted you to have a good life somewhere. I couldn't care for you with no means or money. My life has been miserable since then."

"Years later, a kind passer-by left me here. Before leaving, I wrote the shelter's address on the back of one photo, with the blind hope you would come for me one day."

Oscar hugged his mother and then asked his men to pack her belongings.

"I forgive you for leaving me. You might have failed me as a mother, but I won't fail you as a son. Let's go home!"

Oscar took Maria to the city and introduced her to Evelyn, who was initially furious at Maria. But she forgave the woman after learning her story.

Oscar bought a small house in the neighborhood for his birth mother so that she would live the rest of her life under his love and care. He continued to live with Evelyn and didn't stop calling her 'mom,' because she was his true mom in all senses of the word.

To Oscar, Evelyn was more than just his mother. "You're the light of my life, and whatever I am today is only coz of you!" he often told her.

What can we learn from this story?

• You become stronger when you forgive others. Though Oscar's birth mother abandoned him over his disability, he forgave her and took her home with him twenty years later.
• Never abandon your loved ones. There might come a day when you will need their help. After deserting her son, Maria's condition never improved, and she ended up in the shelter for the homeless.

Share this story with your friends. It might brighten their day and inspire them.

A lonely older woman gets complimentary food from a delivery boy who refuses to disclose where the packages came from. One day, she follows him to track down the truth. Click here to read the full story.

This piece is inspired by stories from the everyday lives of our readers and written by a professional writer. Any resemblance to actual names or locations is purely coincidental. All images are for illustration purposes only. Share your story with us; maybe it will change someone's life. If you would like to share your story, please send it to info@amomama.com.