this is a special edition of "nightline." tonight we follow one woman trying to find her birth mother against nearly impossible odds. >> thank you very much. >> reporter: it has been four decades since she was put up for adoption. >> it would almost be too painful for me to hope that, gosh, she might be out there looking for me. >> reporter: then an envelope arrives. could it hold the key to her life-long mystery. tonight we are there for every step of the journey from the emotional phone call. >> hi is this chris? >> reporter: to the remarkable moment four decades in the making when a long lost mother and daughter come face to face. >> oh my gosh you are real. >> first the "nightline" five. >> jcpenney lets mom's style

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♪ >> this is a special edition of "nightline" "face to face." >> good evening. tonight, you are going to witness one woman's extraordinary and emotionally fraught quest to solve the mystery of her own birth. she on the hunt for her

biological mom who gave her up for adoption. and we are with her every step of the way as she unearths the clues that lead to a dramatic life-changing conclusion. here's my coanchor byron pitts for our series "face to face". >> reporter: a baby born on a fall day in ohio. for that girl now grown up so much about herself is a mystery. >> who i look like. where i got my giant teeth. why i was different than my sister or my mom and dad. >> reporter: teresa stinson was adopted and for the entirety of her life her past has been sealed. but just last month, a celebration both historic and humbling. teresa joined hundreds of ohio adoptees who for the first time can request their birth certificates single piece of paper that could bring them face to face with the parents who gave them life. >> how big of a day was it? >> probably one of the biggest

dices of our lives. these were the first in line to obtain their original birth certificate. >> joining her sister by adoption vanessa knox. >> good morning. that will be $20. >> i feel like i'm going to throw up. >> they were born in ohio and this law that was passed opened records for adoptees between 1964 and 1995. it affected 400,000 adoptees. >> reporter: ohio is the newest of only 12 states to open adoption records. teresa stinson and her sister grooe grew up in middle branch ohio north of canton. they say theirs was a happy childhood, but like so many adoptees they have long wondered what is their medical history? who are they? >> millions of questions, where did i come from? did my birth mother think of me. >> think of you or want you? >> both. >> my mom would say your birth

mother loved you so much that she gave you away so we could take care of you. >> reporter: did you buy that? >> absolutely not. that was innate for me. even as a young child that didn't make sense. no matter what i always thought poorly of myself. i was never pretty enough, never talented enough never enough. >> because in your mind your mom didn't want you. >> right. she didn't want you. >> reporter: she said it wasn't until recently that she considered her mother might be looking for her. >> reporter: you never considered that before? >> never. for some reason it was easier to believe i wasn't good enough. it would be too painful for me to hope to have a hope that gosh she might be out there looking for me. >> reporter: teresa applies for a birth certificate and waits for the letter in the mail. >> thank you very much. >> reporter: this is the first step on a journey 47 years in the making.

meanwhile, her sister vanessa starts to look for her sister's birth mother and finds a post on an adoption registry website. >> i thought i will type in teresa's birth date on the registry was her birth mother's name and she had registered in 2001. >> reporter: there was more teresa's possible birth mother attended lake high school more than 40 years ago. the same school her son attends now. >> i'm feeling incredibly nervous. it will be interesting to see if there is family resemblance or anything. >> reporter: teresa and her husband jimmy drive to the school in search of old yearbooks hoping for a portrait a snapshot a glimpse of the woman who may have given her life and then gave her away. >>. >> can we see some old yearbooks? i'm going to look at this one. see if we can find her. i don't know. >> the first thing i wanted to do is look at pictures and see if i could glean anything from

that. see if i was maybe really like her, if we had anything in common, i guess. >> reporter: there it is in black and white. >> i think she was adorable. like looking in the mirror. >> reporter: like pieces to a puzzle her portrait of a past unknown is coming together. >> i haven't even opened my birth certificate yet to get confirmation of all of this on paper. >> reporter: teresa and her sister know be careful what you pray for. the past she seeks could be dark and painful, which is why the supportive sister vanessa is holding back in her own search. >> you don't know what you are going to find. once you go there you can never come back. >> i think this is where we go. >> reporter: hoping to find strength in fellow adoptees, teresa attends a meeting hosted by the adoption network in cleveland. >> oh gosh. i didn't think i would cry.

sorry. >> reporter: here she chooses to open her birth certificate. there's no turning back. >> i am opening this. i think i already know some things in here but there are questions that i hope will be answered by reading it. okay. so people were saying what they were named. my birth mother gave me the same name as my adoptive parents. my adoptive parents did not know what my birth mother had named me. >> reporter: how do you explain that? >> because i'm a person of faith and i think is is totally god's plan. i think it is a little wink from him and he is saying listen i have a plan for your life and i'm going to show you this has been your name all along. you are who i meant you to be. >> it confirmed that i knew my birth mother's name which is great. it is proof that i'm real. >> reporter: that name led to a

real phone number. >> there we go. >> reporter: the next day, teresa is ready to make the call. >> my heart is racing. >> reporter: reach out to a stranger and hear her birth mother's voice for the first time. >> hi chris. how are you? i was wondering if i could talk to you for a moment. i didn't know if you were aware but they just opened adoption records in ohio. i just opened my birth certificate yesterday and the birth mother on my birth records was christine lewis. i'm pretty sure that i'm the person that you have been looking for for a while. >> reporter: on the other end of the line is teresa's birth mother chris shirley. she had been waiting for this phone call for 47 years. >> you are kidding me? >> i'm not kidding. >> kathy could be my daughter. could be my daughter. that's my daughter.

my daughter. well i just want you to know i didn't ever want to give you up. rfr what was it like to finally know? >> that was really cool. that was really cool to hear that. i wanted to make sure it was okay that i called you. >> oh for heavens sake, i have been looking for you for years. >> reporter: when we come back see what happens when they meet. >> this is her street. oh, my gosh. oh my gosh. >> reporter: a blood line no longer broken. stay with us. this is my body of proof. proof of less joint pain. and clearer skin. this is my body of proof that i can fight psoriatic arthritis from the inside out... with humira. humira works by targeting and helping to block a specific source of inflammation that contributes to both joint and skin symptoms. it's proven to help relieve pain, stop further joint damage and clear skin in many adults. doctors have been prescribing humira for nearly 10 years. >>humira can lower your ability to fight infections, including tuberculosis.

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>> reporter: we're back now with

the story of a long lost mother and daughter each on a separate quest to find one another. after decades of searching, what will happen when they actually come face to face? here again my "nightline" coanchor byron pitts. >> reporter: at age 47 teresa stinson is on a mission, searching for the mother she never knew. her birth mother chris shirley now 66 years old has always prayed for the baby girl she gave away four decades ago. >> i gave up hope as the years went on because i thought, well when she was in her 30s, surely she would want to know who her birth parents were and in her 40s, i did -- i was giving up hope. i was giving up hope. >> hi is this chris? >> reporter: with one phone call hope's restored. >> that's my daughter. >> reporter: on this day, birth mother and daughter will meet for the first time. >> it's just surreal.

just surreal. i can't wait to see her. the last time i saw her, i looked through a glass window and i saw her little fingers and part of her head. the last thing i said to her is i love you baby girl and i walked away. and that was it. >> reporter: teresa and her adoptive sister have flown to orlando, florida, to meet chris. >> ready? >> reporter: their hotel r5078 room a few minutes drive from chris' home. >> okay. this is her street. oh my gosh. i got to go. sorry, i have to go. >> oh, my gosh. >> hello. >> oh my gosh. you are real. >> how are you?

how are you? oh my gosh. >> reporter: silence said more than words. a bond time nor distance would break. >> i looked at you and look at your face. oh my goodness. >> let's see if we are the same height. >> i met her for the first time and i felt like i was hugging my little baby. . >> i have to see your fingers. >> same fingers. >> the last thing i saw of you. >> oh my fingers. oh. >> yep. little bitty fingers. i brought my baby book for you to see. >> you did? >> the baby book with every milestone recorded. >> oh, my gosh she lists your weight. this is two years after you were born. >> we'd call kathy and i'd say now she is 2 now she is 3, now

she's 4. now she's 5. and that was you. >> uh-huh. >> oh look so much like me at that age. oh my gosh. oh boy. >> lost years. >> but turned out okay. >> yep. >> reporter: for chris, although more than 40 years have passed she still holds on to old wound. chris and teresa's bert father were childhood sweet hearts. they were in the chorus together. he was her escort on the homecoming court. >> i fell in love with my childhood sweet heart. we were in uniontown, graduated from lake high school and wound up pregnant and wanted to get married. it didn't work out. i didn't want to give her up. i just didn't want to. back in that time it was a

very, very shameful thing to have happen. >> reporter: if garl to get pregnant unmarried. >> absolutely. >> reporter: you felt that shame? >> yes. i felt it because everybody around me was making me feel like that. >> reporter: in 1967 to be pregnant and not married and 17 years old was considered a disgrace. so chris was sent to a home for unwed mothers. >> do you remember that day when you had her? >> oh yes. very well. >> reporter: who was with you? >> no one. i was by myself. i remember waking up at one point and having about 12 nurses at the bottom of my feet watching the delivery for educational purposes i guess. but i do remember afterwards my dad came in and kissed me on the forehead. burg the actual labor, nobody was with me. >> reporter: what did he say to you? do you remember? >> he just said, i love you" did

you hear the new baby cry? >> no. >> touch her. >> wouldn't let me. wouldn't let me hold her. >> reporter: why? >> i don't know why. i guess they didn't want that bonding between the mother and child. but i walked down to the nursery. i don't know if i was supposed to do that or not but that's when i saw her and saw her little hands and her pretty face. >> reporter: chris later went on to marry and have more children two sons and a daughter but says not a day went by when she didn't think of the baby girl she gave away. >> reporter: she was born october 17th. you had a son. >> jimmy was born -- he was close to being born. i asked my doctor to please induce labor because i didn't want it the same date. >> reporter: why? >> so he was born october 15th. >> reporter: why? >> because i wanted to save that day special for her. >> reporter: what do you think listening to her?

>> makes me sad. really sad. because she had to suffer. that's awful. i'm a mom. so i can't imagine having to go through that. i can't even -- >> reporter: what kind of questions were you asking? what were you experiencing? >> i felt guilt all the time. >> reporter: why guilt? >> because i felt like god blessed me with three children but i left one behind. >> reporter: you haven't let her go since we sat down. >> no because i love her fingers. [ laughter ] i'll never let her go again. if i had to go it over again, if i had a do-over, i'd march in there and said i'm taking my baby and i'll make it any way i can, but i got her today. >> i feel like -- i don't know, i feel like i'm pretty complete. i see where i got my personality. i see -- it's weird, the

mannerisms some likes. >> reporter: what similarities have you noticed so far? >> claustrophobic for one thing. >> well claustrophobic. we look a lot alike at that age. >> we like blue flowers. >> yes, we like blue flowers. >> a lot of the same foods. >> yeah. it has been very comfortable. >> yeah comfortable. >> when we met, it was like she was never gone. >> reporter: has been any down side to it? anything disappointing or less than for either of you? >> nothing. nothing. i can't think of one thing. other than it didn't happen sooner. >> reporter: mother and daughter reunited starting a new chapter together. for "nightline," i'm byron pitts in orlando, florida. >> just an extraordinary report and our thanks to byron pitts for that and our thanks to teresa and chris for letting us tell their story. we'll be right back. >> this special edition of "nightline" is brought to you by

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lost her. you can quit. for free help, call 1-800-quit-now. ♪ finally tonight, a lot of people will go to ridiculous lengths these days for a great picture, great piece of video, but what about ridiculous heights? they are the daredevils of dubai. plummeting more than 1300 feet from princess towering the world's second tallest residential building. flipping and free falling before floating safely down to earth. these sky-high acrobatics were

part of a week-long event where more than 500 participants took the plunge. me i think i'd rather take the elevator. given the option i'd also take the stairs. thank you for watching abc news. tune in to "gma" in the morning. we are on-line 24/7 and on-line, on our facebook page. good night.

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