What began as a normal day in August, 2000, would later take an unforgettable turn when Danny Stewart stepped off the subway in the 14th street station en route to his and partner Peter Meruno’s NYC home. What Stewart believed to be a stray baby doll lying on the platform turned out to be a real, live, one-day-old baby with its umbilical cord still attached. Stewart immediately called the NYPD, which arrived shortly. His next call was to Mercurio, his partner, who said he could tell by the tone of his voice that something was wrong.
The NYPD called the mysterious baby Daniel Ace Doe, because the 14th street station runs the A, C, and E trains. Soon the entire city was looking for the baby’s mother, but three months later, she was still nowhere to be found. In order to find Daniel a proper home Stewart had to go to family court to explain how he found him that day, where the judge proposed that Stewart adopt him. Stewart replied that “it [was] not that easy,” but luckily the judge told him it could be. Stewart and Mercurio had only been together for three years at the time and had never talked about having kids; at the same time, same sex marriage had yet to be legalized in New York. However, Stewart felt that it was destiny and adopting the baby would be a great decision. At first, Mercurio was furious, but he quickly changed his mind when he realized it might be the couple’s only chance to have a baby. Stewart and Mercurio decided to adopt the baby and rename him Kevin, and the family has lived happily ever since.
Now, thirteen years later, Kevin is grown and his parents Peter Mercurio and Danny Stewart are newlyweds. The same judge who proposed adopting Kevin married his adoptive parents. The family feels very lucky, and Kevin often wonders about “how different his life would be if his dad had not found him”. His parents wonder the same thing; they say that “they could not imagine life without him.” It all just goes to show that one seemingly normal day could end up changing your life forever.
