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Ammon News - A man who was abandoned in a cardboard box on Christmas Day more than 60 years ago has been reunited with the woman who found him and discovered he has siblings.

Harvey Shackell was left on a freezing cold concrete slab as a newborn baby in 1960 and hours later, on Boxing Day, Vera Wood discovered him outside her home.

He was taken in by Vera but plagued by unanswered questions about his family for more than six decades, the Mirror reports.

And now Harvey, 62, has been reunited with Vera and discovered he has two sisters and 16 half-siblings.

He said: “I can’t believe this is where I was left,

“If I hadn’t been taken in, I would have frozen to death.”

The moment he saw sister Cherry for the first time left him in tears.

“These last few months have been so emotional. I get choked up just talking about it,” says Harvey, from Wiltshire, who is married to Vanessa and has two stepsons.

“When I met my sister Cherry, I couldn’t believe how much alike we are.

“I feel a lot lighter now that I know where I’m from.”

At the time, the Mirror reported a “beautiful blue-eyed” baby boy had been found abandoned in a cardboard box in Hayes, Middlesex.

Nurses at nearby Hillingdon Hospital named him Christoper but he was taken into by emergency foster parents at five days old, who later renamed him Harvey after adopting him.

Harvey had thought about his birth family over the years but when his adoptive mum, now 95 and in a nursing him, showed him the old Daily Mirror clipping, he decided to take action.

Harvey says: “I’ve had a good upbringing with a loving adoptive mum, dad and brother, but over the years you get this niggle in the back of your mind thinking ‘Where did I come from?’”

Last year, Harvey launched an appeal in the Mirror to try and trace his birth parents and he also turned to hit ITV show Long Lost Family: Born Without Trace.

DNA results revealed that both of Harvey's birth parents have died and he discovered he has two older full sisters.One doesn’t want to be identified, but Cherry, from Devon, was delighted to be found.
A man who was abandoned in a cardboard box on Christmas Day more than 60 years ago has been reunited with the woman who found him and discovered he has siblings.

Harvey Shackell was left on a freezing cold concrete slab as a newborn baby in 1960 and hours later, on Boxing Day, Vera Wood discovered him outside her home.

He was taken in by Vera but plagued by unanswered questions about his family for more than six decades, the Mirror reports.

And now Harvey, 62, has been reunited with Vera and discovered he has two sisters and 16 half-siblings.

He said: “I can’t believe this is where I was left,

“If I hadn’t been taken in, I would have frozen to death.”

The moment he saw sister Cherry for the first time left him in tears.

“These last few months have been so emotional. I get choked up just talking about it,” says Harvey, from Wiltshire, who is married to Vanessa and has two stepsons.

“When I met my sister Cherry, I couldn’t believe how much alike we are.

“I feel a lot lighter now that I know where I’m from.”

At the time, the Mirror reported a “beautiful blue-eyed” baby boy had been found abandoned in a cardboard box in Hayes, Middlesex.

Nurses at nearby Hillingdon Hospital named him Christoper but he was taken into by emergency foster parents at five days old, who later renamed him Harvey after adopting him.

Harvey had thought about his birth family over the years but when his adoptive mum, now 95 and in a nursing him, showed him the old Daily Mirror clipping, he decided to take action.

Harvey says: “I’ve had a good upbringing with a loving adoptive mum, dad and brother, but over the years you get this niggle in the back of your mind thinking ‘Where did I come from?’”

Last year, Harvey launched an appeal in the Mirror to try and trace his birth parents and he also turned to hit ITV show Long Lost Family: Born Without Trace.

DNA results revealed that both of Harvey's birth parents have died and he discovered he has two older full sisters.One doesn’t want to be identified, but Cherry, from Devon, was delighted to be found.

Daily Record