Stacey Faix was barely a teenager when she became pregnant. She was just 15 years old when she gave birth to her baby and chose to place him for adoption.

He was whisked away after she gave birth, never to be seen again, or so she believed.

In November 2017, Pennsylvania enacted new legislation allowing adoptees to view their original birth certificates. This was good news for adoptive Stephen Strawn.

Strawn realized he needed his knowledge when he learned of the new law. Within a month, he obtained his birth certificate, which contained previously missing information.

“It was a big sigh of relief,” he told Inside Edition after learning the identity of his real mother.

Strawn looked up Stacey Faix on Facebook. He was able to locate her, or at least someone he believed to be her.

“I sent her a message and said, ‘Hey, I have a really weird question,'” Strawn stated. “‘Did you put up a baby boy for adoption in 1982?'” She said, ‘Yes.’ “I think you might be my biological mother,” I said.

Even though they hadn’t seen or talked to each other in 35 years, it came out that Faix, who had tried but failed to locate her son, and Strawn had a lot in common.

Despite living in Ohio, Faix planned to participate in the Pittsburgh Half Marathon as a member of Team Red, White, and Blue (RWB), an organization Strawn was also a member of in Pennsylvania. Strawn was also scheduled to compete in the same event.

Strawn designed a strategy that was well worth the wait on race day.

Someone gave Faix a card as Team RWB met before the race. “It’s been 13,075 days since you last saw me,” the card said. I didn’t want you to have to wait another day.”

“We must have hugged about ten times,” Strawn said. “After we finish hugging, we look at each other and then hug again.” It simply felt unreal that it was finally occurring since everything occurred so quickly.”

The mother-son pair ran the marathon together, apparently to make up for the time they’d both missed.

Love—that this young mother followed through on her pregnancy; love— LOVE that she gave her son to a loving family who wanted to adopt and share their love; love— LOVE that they got to meet again.