55-year-old man was abandoned as a baby—learned an emotional detail about his birth mother decades later
A person who grew up in foster care or was raised by adoptive parents might have many questions about their birth family. A 55-year-old man, Martin, who was given up for adoption as a baby, didn't know much about his birth family either. He also didn't know that he had a brother, who had been looking for him. The most surprising thing was one tattoo on his birth mother's arm that warmed the man's heart after all these years, per PEOPLE.
Martin got a chance to reunite with a brother he never knew he had after the brother, 44-year-old Mark, approached a UK television show called "Long Lost Family" hosted by Nicky Campbell. The search started because Mark had noticed a tattoo on his mom, Diane's, arm. It was the photo of a baby. The woman also slept with the same photo on her bedside table before she died at 73 years old. However, Mark had no idea who that baby was and had never gotten a clear answer about it from his mom. "I was always intrigued by this photo... this one was beside her bed. She had it tattooed on her arm, this picture, as well. He looks like such a happy little chappy on there," Mark remarked.
The baby was actually Martin, who had been taken away from his mom and had no memory of her. "Somehow, I knew it wasn’t me. I would ask my mom, 'Who’s that?' You know and she was very vague, very - you know, elusive on it. Eventually, she said, 'That's your brother, yeah. He got taken away.'" Martin, who worked as a musician in Gloucestershire, England, got to know about his mother's tattoo on the show through Campbell. "And I've got to tell you this...She had a tattoo of you," Campbell shared. "At least she wasn't averse to tats. They're not everybody's cup of tea," a teary-eyed Martin responded.
Mark, who has three kids of his own, found the thought of having to give up a child really heartbreaking. "The thought of that, I’d be lost without my children, it would be like losing part of your heart, really." Diane was a single mom and just 19 years old when Martin was born. So she gave him up for adoption following her father's advice. However, it wasn't the easiest thing for her as she suffered from depression multiple times after being separated from her baby, according to Mark. Martin got a chance to read a letter from Mark and was excited to get a chance to meet his brother after all these years.
"I can't wait to meet the guy; this guy's put his soul on this piece of paper. Well done. Top bloke," Martin commented. It was a strange feeling for the brothers to get to know a sibling after so many decades, but they were still enthusiastic about it. "It was such a bombshell for you and I was the one setting the bomb off," Mark told Martin as they met for the first time on the television show. "Yeah, but it turned out to be full of glitter," Martin expressed in response. He was elated that his brother made an effort to find him.