A mom from Seattle, Washington traveled to Shanghai on Monday, Jan. 11 -- hoping that she would eventually find the biological parents of her adopted son. The 36-year-old mother decided to make the journey as she wants the boy to see his true parents before he loses his sight.
Molly Sano said that her three-year-old adopted son Bennett, whose Chinese name was Long Miao, was diagnosed with Usher Syndrome in December. The doctors in the United States explained to her that it's a rare disease and such cure isn't available yet.
Unfortunately, this condition will also take away her son's eyesight by the time he reaches the age of 20. "We just hope that he can see his biological parents with his own eyes, creating special visual memories of them before he loses his vision," Molly said to China Daily.
Sano said before that she found Bennett, an abandoned child, in Ningbo in May 2012. No one knew anything about him other than a note saying, "We don't know what else to do. We're too poor to bring him up. We hope someone can help him." The apologetic note also said that Bennett was born deaf.
The boy was later taken to Enmei Child Welfare Association, where Sano saw him and adopted him in February 2014. The mother who already had a daughter -- who is one month older than Bennett -- said by the time she laid eyes on the child, she knew right away that he's her son.
"He's the most beautiful boy I've ever seen," she added. After adopting the boy, she and her deaf husband, Chris, have been teaching the boy sign language.
After they found out about the boy's health condition, Sano has since then become busy communicating with the authorities in Ningbo. She's trying to find any information that could possibly lead them to the boy's biological parents before he goes blind.
