Such A Blessing

After 25 years of marriage Bert and Dora Lewis had lost all hope of having a family, until their prayers were answered when they became parents to Carol. Now an adult, Carol has been seriously ill in hospital but is recovering after treatment for her illness. Bert and the ever-talkative Dora have been called in to speak to the Doctor and they assume it is to discuss Carol’s recovery. However, nothing could prepare them for his news, which is about to destroy their lives.

The Doctor explains to them that DNA tests, undertaken previously to find a suitable donor for their daughter, have proved that neither Bert nor Dora is Carol’s biological parent, and, as a result, they have to consider the possibility that they were somehow given the wrong baby at the hospital where she was born.

Regrettably, a fire occurred at the hospital five years after Carol was born, destroying most of the medical records, which could have helped to uncover the truth. Whilst clearly devastated by the shocking news they have received, Bert and Dora are fighting to come to terms with the consequences of this unbelievable information. Their lives are in tatters and they are struggling to cope with the unbelievable pain they are experiencing.

It’s unthinkable that further revelations could lead to total devastation for the family, but that is indeed what lies ahead, when a DCI arrives at the hospital to arrest Mrs Lewis for abducting a baby (namely Carol) from Greenlands hospital after her birth. Although Mr Lewis vehemently defends his wife and denies the accusation on her behalf, the DCI explains that the medical records were not destroyed in the fire at Whickcliffe Hospital, as previously assumed, but instead were moved to another part of the hospital to allow for redecoration of the archives.

These records led the police to a number of women who gave birth there around the time that Carol was born. It was during one of these interviews that one woman happened to mention the tension that existed on the maternity ward at the time, following the recent abduction of a baby from nearby Greenlands Hospital and a further harrowing twist begins to reveal itself.

This new information about the abduction enabled the police to trace the parents of the abducted child who agreed to DNA testing, the results of which prove, without a doubt, that in fact they were Carol’s biological parents.