A LEDBURY hwoman abandoned under a hedge as a baby has uncovered some of the secrets of her past with the help of a TV programme.

At just six weeks old, Liz Deutsch, who now lives in Ledbury, was found by a man walking his dog in Edgbaston. She was found in a shopping basket, under a hedge on a “nice road” not far from a nearby hospital.

Now 58, Ms Deutsch, who appeared on ITV's Long Lost Families: Born Without Trace in June, still has the hand-knitted basket and hand-knitted clothes that she was found in, along with a brooch found in the blanket she was wrapped up in. It remains the only physical evidence of her birth mother and what Ms Deutsch believes was ‘their last act of caring”.

The programme, presented by Davina McCall and Nicky Campbell, explained that Ms Deutsch had been in the foster system for the entirety of her childhood but was fostered long-term by a couple she called mum and dad.

She believed, she told the programme, that she could have been abandoned due to a life-threatening gastroenteritis infection she contracted as a child.

At nine months, she was marked as having “very poor motor skills” development and it was thought that she would never walk.

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But, defying all odds, she was walking by three and a half and left the foster system at 16 to pursue her education. She is now a professor of nursing practice and “one of the highest achieving nurses in the country,” said Davina McCall.

After DNA testing, the show found two sisters both of whom have since passed away, Muriel and Hilda, with a match. It was confirmed with circumstantial but significant evidence that Muriel was Ms Deutsch's mother and that she had an American father. Muriel would have been 37 when gave birth.

This led to the discovery of Ms Deutsch’s second cousin, Christine, who revealed that Muriel had been an avid traveller who was often coming and going to America.

Ms Deutsch said: “I just feel very, very happy as well as relieved” and “You can’t give something better than this”.

“It’s a gift”

You can watch the episode on (series six, episode three) on ITVX.