Birthday: February 13, 1990
Method of Creation: #2 and #3- After reading about children who were from poor countries who were born with birth defects and adopted, I was inspired to look into it and write about it.
I sort of mentioned her before on a tangent but here she is. There isn't much to explain about how she came to be so here is her long, interesting bio:
Taigana is separated into two halves by a giant wall. East Taigana is the slightly better-off, democratic half, while West Taigana is the communist, war-torn, dull, and poor half. People tried very hard to escape into East Taigana, because from there it was possible to move to other countries, such as Rakia, the Raellians, or Kiillaana.
In a small village in West Taigana called Ti Sa, located fairly close to the border, Bak Hsi and Ta Ka Hsi were expecting their first child. They had been planning an escape and having a child would make things a little harder but certainly do-able. However, when their daughter was born, their lives were shattered.
She was born with several birth defects. She had a cleft palate so wide it was hard for her to swallow, unless she was positioned just right. Her right arm was shorter than her left and was missing a thumb and pinky. Her left arm was the normal length, but she had no thumb. Her right leg was poorly formed and her small leg ended at the knee with what resembled a foot, although it appeared to have no bones and did not move. Her left leg was the right length but her foot twisted inward because she had a club foot.
Her parents loved her so much but knew that she would not survive much longer without proper treatment. They were heartbroken as they realized that if they were to excape they could not take her with them. Ta Ka Hsi had to make a decision that she felt in her heart would be best. She had to abandon her baby.
These parents were very fortunate because they were able to read and write, and because they had a lot more knowledge than the norm. Ta Ka Hsi took the time to write a long, detailed note that told their daughter's name, birthdate, family, and everything about her that they knew. She told in the note how mch she loved her daughter and what they were going through at the time. There was a promise that they would try to reunite at another time, as well as a promise that until they were reunited they would have no more children.
Ta Ka Hsi knew of a cave that passed under the wall that hardly anyone knew about. It was dangerous and hardly used but was a means of escape. She placed her three-day-old baby in a basket with blankets and the note and left her deep in the cave. As she turned and left, she had a feeling of calm, and she knew that she would be found and taken care of. She then joined her husband and went straight to work planning the escape.
Meanwhile, a nurse who specialized in finding abandoned children, had a feeling to look in the cave as she passed by. She went inside and found little Tai Vek Hsi. She realized that she had only been there for a few hours and quickly got her outside. She saw and read the note and realized that this baby was not abandoned because the parents didn't want kids, she was abandoned to get the care she needed. She was overjoyed to learn that this girl had a name and history and took her to the main hospital orphanage.
The doctors couldn't figure out how to feed her and it took a lot of time, so she had surgery two days later to put a tube in her stomach so she could eat properly. She was well-known at the hospital and was a very happy baby. She was put up for adoption in an international book when she was just three months old. That book happened to fall into the hands of Karl and Revlie Landon, several thousand miles away.
Karl and Revlie Landon could not have children but both loved children dearly and would have made great parents. They became foster parents and loved it, and soon turned to adoption. They went to the local adoption agency and began talking about the possibilities. They were handed an international book and as they flipped through the pages, they came across a little Tellish girl with big, adorable eyes, who was sitting in a doctor's bed.
The first picture I sketched of Rebecca
Her limbs were all different and her top lip sank in, but she captured their hearts with her eyes. Suddenly, they were inspired to adopt disabled children and give them hope and the care they so desperately needed. They began work building a large mansion that could encompass anything they might need and went straight to work putting in their papers to adopt this beautiful little girl.
As they made calls and got to know her a little better, they learned of her story. It touched them so much that they were determined to help her reunite with her parents someday. Finally, on October 13, 1990, Karl and Revlie were able to travel to East Taigana to finalize the adoption and meet Tai Vek Hsi in person. It was such a happy day and Tai Vek Hsi knew that these were going to be her parents. She smiled so big and was hardly sad to leave.
After the family returned to their home in Pathreeah, Pyncyltonia (which happens to be Tellish quarters), they enjoyed every minute with their daughter. They named her Rebecca and kept her full Tellish name as her middle name. Her life for the next year was full of appointments and surgeries, but she smiled through it all. Her first surgery was her palate surgery, where they closed the large split in the roof of her mouth. For the first time, she was able to eat solid foods! She healed quickly and needed very little therapy to get her back to normal. The tube in her side didn't last long and was soon just a scar and a memory.
Next, her right leg was fixed up to prepare it for a prosthetic. The doctors amputated just above the knee. Her left ankle was re-aligned and casted, preparing her to walk in the future. She healed quickly from these too and by now was talking a ton and scooting all over the place. The Landons decided to teach their kids their home language as well as Kevian, so Rebecca learned Tellish as well.
She received her first leg when she was just three years old and immediately took off. She understood how it worked and it came easy for her. Her final surgery was on her left hand. Because she had no thumb, the doctors turned her pointer finger into one. They left her right hand alone, because it was so much shorter, and they figured she would become left-handed. She sure surprised them by being right-handed, but used her left hand just as much for the tasks she couldn't do with her right.
By now, she was almost ready to start school and had a ton of siblings. Her parents started the Landon Foundation which not only sent donations to orphanages to help the kids with medical needs, but got parents willing to adopt these kids on the same page. While the organization is based mainly in Taigana, it also goes to other countries as well. Most of Rebecca's siblings are Tellish but many are not.
Rebecca was fortunate to live in the Tellish quarters of Pyncyltonia. Many people moved from Taigana to either the Lost Islands or Pathreeah. Therefore, her teachers all taught Tellish and it was easy to catch kids up who had just moved. Rebecca excelled in school and learned to read in Kevian and Tellish. She was soon able to read the note her mother wrote by herself. Revlie read it to her often and explained to her what had happened but now she could read it herself and ponder its meaning.
Being the oldest of the Landon bunch, and the poster child for the Landon Foundation, Rebecca was pretty famous. She appeared on the news and on programs a lot. She just simply told everyone her story and gave updates on what she was doing at the time. In the back of her mind, she wondered if her birth parents were still alive and if they were even looking for her.
Meanwhile, back in West Taigana, some years passed since Tai Vek Hsi's birth. Her parents managed to escape. It was a huge group effort but them and some other people managed to find an East Taigana ship that was unattended. They somehow managed to get fake ID's and uniforms and simply sail away to East Taigana. Once there, Bak Hsi and Ta Ka Hsi got jobs, posing as other people. They soon had enough money to hop on a ferry for a week-long ride to Kesly.
Once in Kesly, they started looking for Tai Vek Hsi. It had been over 16 years since they left her in a cave. Every year they had celebrated her birthday and hoped they would find her. They decided to turn to the adoption agency, since a lot of Tellish children passed through their doors. Every adopted child was put in the records and if she was there she would be in there. They just hoped that her adoptive parents put out a search for her birthparents.
As soon as they walked through the doors, they saw a poster on the wall of the Landon Foundation. There, looking back at them, was the three-month-old picture of Tai Vek Hsi. Imagine their surprise and joy. They quickly met with an agent and told them their story. This agent knew of Tai Vek Hsi, because she was very famous, and knew that the Landons were looking for her parents. She asked them their names and was shocked to find that they matched up with the names the Landons had sent in. She pulled out a picture of Tai Vek Hsi that was a little older and her looks matched Ta Ka Hsi's looks almost exactly. They had found their daughter.
They learned that she was doing very well and was living in Pathreeah, so they made the move. They contacted a news show who would reunite them together with their daughter nationally. By now, many had heard of Rebecca Landon. For the first time in over 17 years, Rebecca would see her birth parents again.
It was a normal January day 2008. Rebecca gladly went on set to tell her story and focus on how she became who she was. Little did she know that her birth parents were just a room away. She left the stage and her birthparents came on and told them their side of the story, which was very amazing. The host showed them a picture of Rebecca as she was in the present and it was so obvious that she looked just like her mother. She was found. To be sure, a DNA test was done and it was perfect.
Soon it was time to reunite the three. They had Rebecca come onstage by herself and asked her about her birth parents. She told them about the note and how she wished she could see them someday. She thought the show was to get the word out to find her parents. Then, the host told her the best words she had ever heard in her life.
"Rebecca, you want to get the word out to help find your parents, right? Well, you don't have to, because we found them. They managed to escape from Taigana and the first thing they did was look for you. They are here today."
With that, they came through the doors and were reunited. It was an amazing story that ended happily ever after. There was so much joy and happiness and Rebecca spent a lot of time with her parents telling them of her adventures. They got caught up and the rest of her senior year she spent the weekends at her birth parents' house. Imagine their joy as they saw their own daughter graduate from high school with a smile on her face.
Shortly after the reunion, Ta Ka Hsi announced she was pregnant. Rebecca was so happy. Their family was complete.
Today, Rebecca is in college. She recently got engaged to her boyfriend Eric and has great plans for the future. She sees her parents every day and is always there for her siblings and families.
With that, I leave you five fun facts:
1. Rebecca is right-handed, despite having 3 fingers on that hand.
2. Rebecca is fluent in Tellish and is 1,000% Tellish
3. Rebecca plays the trumpet. She holds it with her right hand by a special strap and plays with her left hand.
4. Rebecca's front teeth are so far apart (because her cleft palate was midline) that she has two false front teeth to fill in the gap. Therefore she has 8 and not 6 front teeth.
5. Rebecca wears skirts almost every day. In her words, "it's easier to get my leg on."
No comments:
Post a Comment