出生即被遺棄快餐店 27年後女孩終覓得生母

A woman who, as a newborn, was abandoned in the bathroom of a Pennsylvania fast-food restaurant said she has found her birth mother just three weeks after launching a search that garnered worldwide attention, and as her mother prepared to look for her.

Katheryn Deprill, 27, said Tuesday she felt "pure joy" when she met her biological mother for the first time Monday at an attorney's office. And, after she learned the sad details of her conception and abandonment, she said she understood why her mom did what she did.

"She is better than anything I could've ever imagined. She is so sweet and amazing. I'm so happy," said Deprill, who has become known as the Burger King Baby.

The woman had decided about six months ago to launch her own search for the daughter she gave up.

Deprill began her quest on March 2 by posting on her Facebook page a photo in which she held up a sign that said, "Looking for my birth mother. ... She abandoned me in the Burger King bathroom only hours old, Allentown PA. Please help me find her by sharing my post."

The photo was shared more than 30,000 times by Facebook users around the world, and Deprill's story landed in numerous media outlets. That caught the attention of the woman who abandoned her, and she came forward to attorney John Waldron, who arranged for them to meet.

Deprill said she bears a very strong resemblance to the woman, whose name she wouldn't disclose.

"It looked like I was looking in a mirror," she said.

Deprill, an EMT and married mother of three who lives outside Allentown in South Whitehall Township, said she embraced her mother.

"I got the hug that I had wanted for the last 27 years, and that broke the ice," she said. "I asked if I could have it, and she said, 'absolutely,' and just held her arms open, and the rest is history."

The pair met for about four hours and exchanged contact information. Deprill said they plan to meet again.

"We are definitely going to have a relationship," she said.

Deprill declined to address the circumstances of her abandonment, referring those questions to Waldron.

The attorney said the woman said that, as a 16-year-old, she was raped while traveling abroad and became pregnant. The woman said she hid the pregnancy from her parents and, after giving birth in her bedroom, felt she could not take her newborn to the hospital because she would have to answer questions.

Waldron had his staff prepare for the reunification with flowers, chocolates and boxes of tissues. Deprill, who had launched the search with the blessing and encouragement of her adoptive parents, was accompanied by her adoptive mother and her youngest son, 7-month-old Jackson.

"It was one of the most emotional, joyful, dramatic, exciting things I've ever seen," Waldron said, adding there's no doubt in his mind that his client is Deprill's mother.

"If you sat there for five minutes and heard them and watched them and observed them and looked at them, you would know," he said.

Deprill said her birth mother expressed regret during their tear-filled meeting. She said she forgave her "110 percent, absolutely."當還是新生兒的時候，一位女性就被遺棄在賓夕法尼亞州一家快餐店的洗手間。當開始尋找生母后，她得到了世界範圍內的關注，並在三週後找到自己的生身母親，而這位母親也正準備尋找女兒。

27歲的凱瑟琳·德普瑞爾於週二時表示，當她在週一首次見到自己的親生母親時，心裏是滿滿的興奮。這次見面被安排在一個律師辦公室。當德普瑞爾瞭解到在母親懷孕和遺棄她期間發生的悲慘情節時，她說她理解爲什麼母親拋棄她了。

“媽媽比我想象中的還要好。她很貼心並且很棒。我現在真的很高興，”德普瑞爾說到，而她也因“漢堡王女孩”爲外界所知。

這位母親在六個月之前同樣也下定決心去尋找自己遺棄的女兒。

德普瑞爾於3月2日時在她的臉書主頁面上張貼一張照片，從而開始了尋找之路。在那張照片中，她手舉一張海報，上面寫着，“尋找我的親生母親……她在我出生後的幾個小時就將我遺棄在亞林鎮漢堡王快餐店的洗手間。請分享我的海報照片，幫助我尋找媽媽。”

在全世界範圍內，這張照片已臉書用戶分享了三萬多次，同樣許多媒體也刊登了德普瑞爾的故事。這樣就引起了德普瑞爾親生母親的關注，之後她就前往律師約翰·沃爾德倫處，望其幫助二人準備見面。

德普瑞爾說她像極了媽媽，而對於媽媽的名字，她無法透露。

“看着她就像是我在照鏡子，”她說。

作爲一名內科急救專家和三個孩子的母親，現居住在亞林鎮南白廳鄉的德普瑞爾表示歡迎媽媽回家。

“對於這個擁抱，我已經想了27年，同時它也消除了我們母女間的尷尬，”她說。“我說我能不能抱她，她說，‘當然’，並張開了雙臂。而過去的一切都過去了。”

這次見面持續了大約4個小時，二人也交換了聯繫信息。德普瑞爾表示他們會計劃再見面。

“我們註定分不開了，”她說。

德普瑞爾不願提及自己被遺棄的情況，將相關問題交由律師沃爾德倫代答。

沃爾德倫說德普瑞爾媽媽16歲去國外旅遊時被強姦了，從而致使其懷孕，同時她也沒有將這件事告訴父母。而當在臥室誕下嬰兒時，她覺得不能去醫院，因爲那樣會被問很多問題。

沃爾德倫讓他的職員準備成束的花，巧克力和紙巾。德普瑞爾在此尋找過程得到很多祝福和來自養父母的鼓勵。見面時德普瑞爾由她的養母和最小的兒子——7個月大的傑克遜陪伴。

“這是我見過的最動情，最激動，最戲劇化，最興奮的場景之一了，”沃爾德倫說，他又補充道在他心裏，他的客戶肯定就是德普瑞爾的媽媽。

“如果你在這坐五分鐘，聽着他們之間的對話，看着他們，觀察着他們，你就會了解了，”他說道。

德普瑞爾說在這次見面中，雙方都情緒激動，流了很多眼淚，德普瑞爾的親身母親也表達了她的悔恨。德普瑞爾表示絕對會“百分之一百一”原諒她的媽媽。