Baby Left for Dead is All Grown Up

A baby abandoned in the freezing cold has now grown up.

“It makes me feel like I’m here for a reason,” said Ashley Wyrick, 18, in a recent interview, who will graduate June 9th from Sequoia High School, four miles from where she was left in a bag.

Wyrick said in an article that she had survived crueler fates: the death of her adoptive dad and the torment by young classmates who teased her about being abandoned.

“The police report in 1987 listed her as Baby Jane Doe,” said Walsh. “The chance of her being found in that area at that hour of the night was nothing short of a miracle said Sheryl Greenspan who was among the nurses who tended to the abandoned baby.”

Wyrick charmed the Wyricks just as she had charmed the Sequoia nurses, says Walsh.

A few years later the Wyricks’ stormy marriage ended in divorce, writes Walsh.

Wyrick was eight when her adoptive dad, Leo was diagnosed with a brain tumor and given just two months to live, wrote Walsh.

And quietly Wyrick hoped he would get better, reported Walsh.

Leo lived more than a year longer than the doctors said he would and died in 1996, according to the article.

“He was my best friend,” said Wyrick. “I was in shock and at the same time confused.”

Wyrick struggled with school, according to research.

Those who know her best all say the same thing: Wyrick is a hard worker who is remarkably well-adjusted, happy, and liked by all, stated Walsh.

“Ashley is a standout volunteer on campus, showing up early and staying late to help at out school events,” said Lauren Reibstein, activities director at Sequoia.

Wyrick and Greenspan even met once while both volunteered at a campus event but they hadn’t known enough about each other to make the connection, explained Walsh.

“She looked at me and I looked at her and we just hugged each other,” recalled Greenspan. “In December 1987 she brought me an incredible gift and she’s brought a whole new fat gift to me now.”

At the University of Arizona Wyrick said she plans to major in psychology and English.

“Given the circumstances under which I was found,” she said,” it’s hard to believe it was not a miracle.”