Adopting A Stranger's Baby Saved My Life

When she saw a mother in need, Heather Salazar had to help. And it had remarkable consequences…

- Kristina Beanland & Rebecca Wright

The moment I held Lexi in my arms, I loved her immediately. with cute dimples, big brown eyes, and a vice-like grip on my finger, I knew that while she wasn’t biologically mine, I was meant to be her mum. adopting my youngest daughter was, and always will be, one of the best decisions I’ve ever made – and, it’s a decision that saved my life…

I’ve always known what I wanted out of life – a good job, a loving marriage, and a family. And, by 28, my plans were falling into place. Married to my husband, Steve, we had three children, Christian, then seven, Caleb, four, and Cara, one. And when I wasn’t looking after them I was studying for a degree in social work.

We lived a happy yet ordinary life. That is, until May 2002, when a neighbour, who worked as a midwife, told me about one of the women in her care, 23-year-old Alexis. After going through a mastectomy and then chemotherapy, Alexis was losing her fight with cancer and – even more tragically – she’d soon be leaving her eight-month-old daughter, Lexi, behind. With no friends or family, she was looking for someone to adopt her baby.

As a mother-of-three, I tried to imagine how Alexis was feeling – but the thought of leaving my children was inconceivable. Somehow I knew it then – I was going to adopt this baby.