Imagine just finding out there's a little boy out there with your genetic make-up. Yes, he's your son. Oh, and he needs an organ transplant. One of yours would probably do the trick. But, sorry, you can't meet your son.
The plot of a day-time soap? No, this is the story of British dad Michael Shergold, who learned just recently that an ex-girlfriend hid her pregnancy and the subsequent birth of their child. A school caretaker, Shergold was divorced in 1996 after his first wife was unfaithful. He secured full custody of their three children, and raised them single-handedly. His first relationship after his divorce didn't last long, Shergold told London's The Daily Mail, because he discovered the woman had a drinking problem. They broke up, and Shergold moved on. In 2002, he even remarried, this time to Alex, a Pentecostal pastor who moved from Los Angeles to Britain the same year the couple were married.
Then, in January 2007, the Shergolds received a letter from Hampshire social services. Michael called the number listed. Their news? That ex-girlfriend had delivered a son four years prior. It was a shock to Shergold, who said he never even knew she was pregnant. After speaking with his wife, Michael agreed to a DNA test and immediately began planning to incorporate the child into their lives.
But the big shock was yet to come. The boy, the social worker told him, is in ill health, and his best bet for survival is an organ transplant. The best donor, doctors say, would be a close relative. Which is where Shergold comes in. The boy's mother had agreed to donate the organ, then changed her mind. She'd already given the child up to the foster system, and she said the transplant might affect her future chance at having a child. Shergold was the boy's only hope.
He said not only would he like to donate his organ, but he'd like to adopt his own child and get him out of the foster care system. The response? Sorry, no adoption. You can't even see him. But about that organ . . . The fight isn't over yet, and Shergold is still trying to make his decision. He's dealing with what some would call a parent's worst nightmare - knowing that his child is suffering - but he has been denied a chance to reach out and wrap that child in his arms and provide the comfort every parent most wants to give.
How would you choose? Although the organ wasn't specified because of legal issues (social services tried to keep the Daily Mail from publishing the story), the best I can approximate is giving a kidney to a long-lost relative you've never met. We don't usually do that - live organ donation is something we usually do for someone we actually know. But can you really say a child you never met is a stranger?
Image: Daily Mail (Michael and Alex Shergold and two of his children)
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