Houston woman abandoned 40 years ago says bigger conversation needed after 2 babies found days apart
HOUSTON, Texas (KTRK) -- It's not a story you hear often, life after being abandoned as a baby.
A Houston woman is speaking to ABC13 for the second time about her experience, given six babies have reportedly been abandoned in Harris County since June.
Leigha Curry opened up to Eyewitness News about the old wounds.
When asked what it feels like to be back at the place where she was abandoned, Curry responded with, "It is very difficult for me."
SEE ALSO: Harris Co. deputies investigating 2nd baby death in 6 days after newborn's body found in ditch
Curry is part of a club that no one wants to belong to. She was left to die as a baby. Her story hit ABC13 airwaves in 1982.
"Some grim news here in Houston. Two young infants, one just a few hours old, were abandoned and left to die here in Houston over the weekend. One baby did die. The other is doing just fine. They are also looking for the mother of a newborn Black baby girl who was discovered by students at the Williams Middle School in northwest Houston," news reports stated back then.
Fast forward to Tuesday's broadcast, and ABC13 anchors are reciting nearly the same script.
"Breaking (Tuesday night), police say it has happened yet again, another newborn baby found dump, that baby is dead," Tuesday's news read.
And Curry has been keeping up with the news.
SEE ALSO: Newborn baby found dead in back of a garbage truck in NW Harris Co., HCSO says
"To see that, it was emotional for me because that could've been me," Curry said.
Curry has been forced to watch her own history repeat itself. In the last two months, half a dozen babies have been found abandoned across Harris County. Two of them were discovered just within the last week, and both of them died.
"I can't imagine how she feels, carrying this baby, feeling a bond and connection, and you walk away, and then I know you hear on the news that the baby died," Curry said. "That's a trauma (the mother will) have to live with for the rest of her life."
However, Curry has made it her life's mission to discuss the other side: life as an unwanted baby.
"Your humble beginnings do not have to define what your future is going to be like. You are somebody," she said.
The healing process for Curry has, in large, been about forgiveness for the mother who gave birth to her.
"I don't hold any malice towards her, but whatever help she needed, she didn't get, and as a result, I was left behind the school," Curry said.
Curry's mother never had to face the consequences of her actions.
In one abandonment case, the baby was discarded by a dumpster in southwest Houston. The child's mother, 18-year-old Everilda Cux-Ajtzalam was arrested and charged with abandoning a child. Cux-Ajtzalam gave birth inside a taco truck, according to police. She allegedly got rid of the baby soon after and went back to clean the truck.
In another incident, the baby was found in the back of a garbage truck in northwest Harris County. In that case, the mother reportedly told investigators she gave birth, and the baby was unresponsive, and she got scared.
"I think someone at a higher level needs to come to the table and say, 'What else do we need to do?'" Curry said.
Curry believes the Infant Safe Haven Law, which allows a mother or parents to drop a child off at a fire station, is helpful but not enough.
She said expectant mothers desperate enough to deliver a baby and walk away show Harris County has a real problem.
"Now is the time to start having these conversations. It is too many," Curry said.
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