A prematurely born newborn baby was abandoned in a cardboard box along a Fairbanks street on New Year’s Eve, according to Alaska State Troopers and the woman who found the child early Friday afternoon.
The baby, who was alive, was wrapped in baby blankets and left at the corner of Dolphin Way and Chena Point Avenue, not far from Chena Pump Road, according to Alaska State Troopers, who were notified at about 2 pm on Friday. The outside temperature was 1 degree with wind chill of -12.
A woman who said she found the baby, Roxy Lane, wrote on Facebook on Friday night that the child had been left near mailboxes near her home. She posted a short video of the child, and showed the note that was apparently written by the child’s mother, who said neither she nor her family have the resources to care for the baby.
“Today I found an abondaned newborn in a cardboard at the row of mailboxes by my house. 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.I wanted to share some thoughts. First, the safe haven law is relatively new in Alaska (adopted in 2008) and it’s possible that many people, particularly young people, might not know what it is. 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. I hope the mother gets the help she might need. I doubt they could have afforded to take her to the hospital and she may be in need of medical attention. Please, someone knows this new mom, check on her! She might be in a desperate situation, feeling abandoned herself. We don’t know, there could be a whole backstory here behind closed doors. Our community has been having an incredibly difficult time this year. I’ve been listening to sad story after sad story this week at work as I’ve been trying to do my part to provide our community with power and access to water or groceries. I’ve worked 9-11 hour days to provide good samaritans the ability to dig their neighbors out or pull out stranded strangers. I’ve been thanked and called an angel more times this week than ever before at my job. So let’s keep this feeling of community going into this new year. 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. But she named him! There’s some love there, even if she made a terrible decision. 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,” Lane wrote on Facebook.
The note from the apparent mom, who says she lived on Cormorant Street, a sparsely populated five-block street, described her anguished decision:
Troopers said that emergency medical workers took the child to the hospital where he was found to be in good health and is being cared for.
