When a woman spotted a cardboard box near a row of mailboxes, she never imagined what she’d find when she looked inside. To her utter dismay, a baby had been abandoned in the box, and he was accompanied by a heartbreaking note written by his desperate mother.
Roxy Lane, a resident of Fairbanks, Alaska, spotted a cardboard box near a row of mailboxes by her home on a frigid Friday afternoon when “temperatures were in the single digits with a wind chill of 12 below, according to the National Weather Service,” the NY Post reported. When she looked inside, what she saw left her in such a state of disbelief, she grabbed her phone to document the ordeal.
Looking inside the box on that blistery and fateful day, Lane discovered a newborn infant, swaddled in blankets and cooing softly, according to the Daily Mail. Also inside the box was a heartbreaking note from the desperate mother who had apparently abandoned the child. Shocked, Lane took to social media, posting a video of the note as well as the baby she had discovered in the abandoned box.
“Please help me!!!” the note began. After explaining that the baby was born 12 weeks premature, born when the mother was only 28 weeks pregnant on the day he was found abandoned, the letter went on to say that neither the baby’s parents nor his grandparents could afford food, let alone the cost to care for the infant, who was named Teshawn.
“My parents and grandparents don’t have food or money to raise me. They NEVER wanted to do this to me,” the letter read. “My mom is so sad to do this,” the note continued. “Please take me and find me a LOVING FAMILY. My parents are begging whoever finds me. My name is Teshawn.”
Authorities were alerted to a report of an abandoned baby, and Alaska state troopers responded, officials confirmed in a statement. The infant was transported to a local hospital by EMS, where it was determined that he was “in good health.”
“AST in Fairbanks received a report of a newborn child that was found abandoned in a cardboard box at the intersection of Dolphin Way and Chena Point Avenue,” the statement read. “The child was alive and seemed to have been abandoned at the location recently. There was a note left with the child indicating the parent could not take care [of] it. The child was transported by EMS to a local hospital and was found to be in good health.”
Of course, the heartbreaking discovery was a lot for Roxy Lane to handle emotionally. “I’ve been processing my feelings all day and running through all the different scenarios and reasons, with my bf and family, as to why something like this could have happened,” she explained in a Facebook post featuring the video footage before going on to share her thoughts.
Suggesting that the parents may be young and unaware of Alaska’s Safe Haven Law, under which parents can give up their unwanted children at a local hospital, church, or police or fire station, Lane explained, “There is always a safer, humane choice to surrender a baby and you will not get in trouble or even have to answer any difficult questions. Take the baby to a fire station, or church, or hospital and they will take care of them.”
In addition to making people aware of the “relatively new” Safe Haven Law, which was enacted in Alaska in 2008 and is explained in the video below, Lane also pleaded with anyone who knew of the mother to reach out and “check on her” since she may be in need of medical attention. “I hope the mother gets the help she might need. I doubt they could have afforded to take her to the hospital,” Lane wrote. “She might be in a desperate situation, feeling abandoned herself. We don’t know, there could be a whole backstory here behind closed doors.”
Admitting that their community has been having an incredibly difficult time, Lane then called on others to help their fellow man. “Clearly, someone in our community felt so lost and hopeless that they made probably the hardest choice of their lives to leave that innocent life on the side of the road with nothing but some blankets and a name,” she wrote. “But she named him! There’s some love there, even if she made a terrible decision.”
Wanting to leave the post on a positive note, Lane concluded, “I know we’re all struggling, I see it. I see you. I love you all and I’m here. Today I saved a baby and I’ll probably think about Teshawn for the rest of my life.” Hopefully, if another mother ever ends up in a similar situation as Teshawn’s mother, they think of him too and remember his story. Most importantly, we hope they remember that there is a better way, and rather than abandoning a child in the cold, they explore the Safe Haven Laws in their state.
