Woman abandoned at birth uncovers another potential sibling after decades-long search

Janet Keall's long search for biological family finally paid off last year when she discovered two half-siblings and the identity of her birth mother.

Now she believes she may have found another half-brother.

"He too was abandoned, actually quite similar to the way I was," said Keall.

The potential brother was abandoned as an infant in 1980 at North Vancouver's Lions Gate Hospital. At the time nurses gave the baby the name Kenneth Allan.

He would be 36-years-old today. 

"I would like to ask any man who was born on July 27, 1980, to come forward to me," Keall told CBC News. "I certainly don't say this to make this more sensational than it is. Even though I use the word 'abandoned' not everyone has been told their story."

Abandoned in Prince Rupert

Keall's own story is one of mystery and missing pieces. As a newborn, she was found wrapped in a blanket on the back steps of the Prince Rupert hospital in 1977.

Two decades ago she began searching for her biological parents, eventually launching a website and using social media to canvass for information.

It worked out in a way she never imagined.

Last summer, a man with a similar story contacted her. As an infant he had been abandoned outside a Prince Rupert apartment in 1979.

An anonymous tip later led to a woman who, as a newborn in 1976, had been left on the steps of a Prince Rupert house.

DNA testing proved all three shared the same mother.

The plot took another twist late last year when Keall finally discovered the name of her birth mother, only to learn she had passed away just months before.

Another breakthrough

Since then, Keall has also discovered another half-sister who was abandoned at a Vancouver hospital in 1983.

That baby, who Keall calls Rose, died as an infant. But her medical records revealed that her biological mother admitted to having five previous pregnancies.

That was the single piece of information Keall needed to keep the search going. 

"I do the math and realize that there are likely two more abandoned half-siblings out there," said Keall. "We have quite a big gap between 1980 all the way up to this abandoned baby sister who was born in 1983."

Keall, who lives in PEI, says a team of volunteers took the information to the Vancouver Public Library where they started scouring newspaper microfiche. There they uncovered a 1980 Vancouver Province story about Kenneth Allan, the baby abandoned at Lions Gate.

'No story like this'

Keall hopes someone who knows something about that baby — and whatever became of him — will contact her.

She says in her heart she knows that there is still a lot more of the mystery to unravel.

"There is no story like this on this planet where there are four known abandoned babies by the same mother," she said. 

"Really this is a journey of truth. I have to see this through."

With files from GP Mendoza