Teanna Elliot made headlines across Canada before she even had a name.
Now the Kelowna woman is in the news again as she looks to put an end to a mystery that started with her birth, decades earlier.
It was Nov. 25, 1987, when two teenage boys skateboarding in a Calgary shopping centre parking lot saw something tucked between a parked Mercedes-Benz and the curb.
A green garbage bag contained a newborn that would soon make national news with the name 91ƵBaby Mary.91Ƶ From the look of things she91Ƶd had just been born, still covered in blood and afterbirth and attached to her umbilical cord.
The boys called a passerby to the scene, and all three made their way to a medical centre where police were called.
91ƵI was the first officer out at it,91Ƶ said Staff Sgt. Rod Harbidger, of the Calgary Police Service, noting that his memory of the circumstances has been blurred.
What has lasted the test of time, however, is the great care and compassion he saw Baby Mary receive in those early moments from the boys91Ƶ who were only around 13 years old 91Ƶ the passerby and the medical staff. And that she survived, against all odds.
91ƵJust when you go look at the parking lot where she was found and how she was next to a tire and how cold it was that day 91Ƶ there91Ƶs no telling how long it would have taken for hypothermia to set in,91Ƶ he said.
91ƵThe way it (came together) was very fortunate.91Ƶ
No leads on who left Baby Mary behind ever came to the fore and the investigation ground to a halt not long after she was absorbed into the loving family who raised her and renamed her Teanna.
FINDING FAMILY
Mike and Teresa Guzzi were like everyone else in Calgary at the time, caught up with the story of Baby Mary. The difference in their case was that Teresa saw something else91Ƶthe missing piece of their family.
91ƵMy mother had already had my brother, but they wanted another baby,91Ƶ said Elliot, explaining it was impossible for her mother to do so biologically, because of a recent cancer battle.
91ƵThey were on an adoption list, and when they were watching the news that morning, my mom said, 91Ƶoh my gosh, Mike, I want this baby.91Ƶ91Ƶ
Mike tried to discourage her, thinking it was a long shot, but she persisted and contacted a social worker.
It took nine days until the Guzzis took Elliot home.
At first she was their foster baby, then six months later they were given permission to adopt.
91ƵMy parents shaped me, and they made me who I am,91Ƶ said Elliot. 91ƵThey are so supportive. I know a lot of people say, 91Ƶyou should be grateful for your adoptive parents.91Ƶ
91ƵBut they91Ƶre not my adoptive parents, they are my mom and dad.91Ƶ
GROWING UP
Elliot wasn91Ƶt always so at ease with the story of how she entered the world.
While she always knew she was adopted, she didn91Ƶt know she was 91ƵBaby Mary91Ƶ until she was 12-years-old, when questions about her origins became more pointed.
91ƵThen my mom had to tell me and at first, I thought it was cool,91Ƶ she said, adding that she remembers going to her classmates to share her birth story.
In time, however, that changed. When she was around 16 or 17-years-old, what being abandoned actually meant started to sink in.
91ƵI felt a lot of pain and hurt 91Ƶ somebody didn91Ƶt want me,91Ƶ she said.
91ƵThen, at age 20, I decided I91Ƶm not going to dwell on this. I have a great life and it is what it is. There91Ƶs no reason to be upset.91Ƶ
She still, however, wants to meet her birth mother and this month she launched her third attempt at doing so.
FULL CIRCLE
Elliot has had a lot of time to think about what led her birth mother to abandon her in such unusual circumstances.
Someone once contacted her, after an early attempt to find her mother, and said she had seen a young girl, maybe 14 or 15-years-old, on a bench near where she was found, at around the time she was found, looking down and out.
91ƵShe told me she remembered thinking, 91Ƶhey girl, you have your whole life ahead of you, why are you so upset?91Ƶ91Ƶ said Elliot.
It wasn91Ƶt until she saw the news that night that the woman thought maybe that was Baby Mary91Ƶs mother.
Although there91Ƶs no way to know if that really was her biological mother on that bench, the story does highlight how much traction that story got in the media and how long it91Ƶs stayed with people.
Elliot hopes that her birth mother will not be deterred from reaching out because of the media glare.
91ƵI think after 30 years they91Ƶve lived with enough,91Ƶ she said. 91ƵThey probably think about it every day. That91Ƶs good enough, if I do find them and they want to keep it private, I will keep it private.91Ƶ
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