Jon Scarlett-Phillips, now 40, was discovered in the bathroom of a leisure centre’s car park near Milton Keynes, UK, back in September 1984.
He had been wrapped up in a blanket and placed inside a shopping bag, with his umbilical cord and placenta still attached, after being abandoned by his birth mother.
Jon later shared his powerful story on ITV’s Long Lost Family: Born Without a Trace, as part of his journey to try and locate his birth mother.
He told the show: “I was found by three girls. Finding something like that at that age is absolutely crazy. I’m grateful, very grateful that they heard me and found me. They’re the ones that saved my life.”
Even so, there was always a feeling of something missing that Jon carried with him throughout his life.
“I didn’t want to search for a very long time,” the chef, who now lives in Wiltshire, said. “The question is still there: Why did she do it?”
He credits his wife Becky with helping him turn his life around. She not only supported him through those challenges but also gave him the strength to look into his past and seek answers.
They also discovered that at the time, she already had two young daughters and was struggling to cope.
“I suspect she surprisingly found herself pregnant with Jon, and I think she couldn’t cope. When she left him, she was mentally in a very bad place,” said Long Lost Family‘s Ariel Bruce.
In a deeply emotional moment, Jon is seen reuniting with his siblings for the very first time. Their faces were kept private in the footage to protect their mother’s identity.
Even though their mother wasn’t there in person, the sisters came with a heartfelt message from her that they shared with Jon.
It said: “Hi, I’ve sent this message to the girls so they can let you know the reasons why I’m not with them today.”
“Unfortunately, I feel unable, both physically and mentally, to come today following a long period of illness.”