#1
On a spring day in 2012, a safety inspector in Ningbo, China discovered an unusual parcel: A newborn baby was left in a park with a note that read, "We beg you, please save this poor thing. "
#2
The note went on to explain that the little boy is deaf. His family abandoned him because they're too poor to care for him.
#3
The little foundling was taken to an orphanage. Being deaf, the boy ended up quite isolated among the other children.
#4
But thousands of miles away, a photo of this baby made the heart of one young mother leap. American couple Molly Sano and her husband have wanted to adopt a child for a very long time. On the 2nd of October 2014, the Sanos flew to China to get to know the baby boy.
#5
During their first encounter at the orphanage, the little two-year-old began to cry, but when Molly picked him up, he quickly calmed down and smiled. He seemed to realize that he was cared for by this woman. "It was love at first sight," remembers Molly. The adoption was granted and the Sanos took the boy home with them. They christened him Bennett.
#6
Bennett is in good hands with the caring Sano family, because Molly is a sign language teacher and her husband is also deaf. At first, they could only understand Bennett through his cries, but within three months he could already say complex sentences in sign language. And the little daughter, Mila, is already hooked on her adopted brother, too. The two children are "like twins," Molly said happily.
#7
But a diagnosis has clouded this family's luck. Bennett suffers from Usher syndrome, which, in addition to his deafness, is associated with progressive blindness. By the time he is 20 years old, Bennett will be completely blind. But Molly wanted to be sure that her son didn't only learn about his roots in words, she wanted him to see it for himself before he lost his sight. Therefore, in January 2016, Molly traveled with Bennett to his hometown of Ningbo to meet his biological mother. When she saw her son again, she was both sad and happy simultaneously. Even though she had to give away her son, he's received the life that she'd always wished for him. When they said goodbye again, the two mothers shared a heartfelt embrace.
Bennett's story is not one of a kind. In China it is forbidden for parents to give up their babies, and therefore many are simply abandoned. Bennett has really been unbelievably lucky!
