'Firehall Baby' has chance reunion with the Cochrane man who delivered her
A Calgary woman is calling a chance reunion with the man who delivered her "fate."
Kristi Perrault was born in a Cochrane firehall in 1982.
That was long before the city had in-town ambulance service, which meant residents sometimes faced lengthy waits if an emergency arose.
And that's exactly what happened to Perrault's mother, Chris Garbus, one September night.
"We were told the EMS weren't going to make it before I popped," she said. "So we flagged an RCMP officer, and he directed us to the firehall."
Fire crews ushered the pregnant Garbus into the kitchen, where a massive table was set up for cooking.
That evening, it served a different purpose.
"I had an agreement that if (the firefighters) couldn't do it, I'd help out," retired Cochrane physician Dr. Dennis Fundytus said. "And so I came over to the firehall and Perrault's mom was on the kitchen table, just about ready to deliver."
"They made me feel comfortable and not so scared," Garbus said of the experience. "But after (Perrault) was born, I had a tough decision."
Garbus tells CTV News at the time, she was "young and unemployed."
She figured putting Perrault up for adoption might give her daughter a chance for "a better life," and so that's what she did.
2004 REUNION
Alberta opened up adoption records in 2004, and Garbus said she was waiting for a call.
"Of course I wanted to meet (Perrault)," she said, "but there's always that possibility that the call would never come."
But Perrault felt the same way about a reunion.
And after a quick search through Garbus' family, she was eventually put in contact with her biological mother.
"It was incredible," she said. "We had that connection and I was so happy we could come into each other's lives again."
2022 FATE
But that was the first of two significant reunions for Perrault.
Earlier this summer, as she did her rounds as a nurse, a co-worker mentioned a familiar name.
"When my charge nurse said the last name, your ears perk up," she said. "But I didn't know for sure. So I didn't seek it out: I just grabbed the chart."
Lo and behold, that chart belonged to one Dennis Fundytus, at Foothills for outpatient support.
"Kristi will struggle with whether she should or shouldn't have reached out to me," he told CTV News Saturday, "but fortunately, she did. And the rest is a feel good story."
"I was like, 'oh my gosh, this is crazy,'" Perrault added. "The first thing he said was, 'you're the firehall baby? How is that possible?'"
Perrault called her biological mother, and Garbus eventually set up a three-person meeting.
"It was fate," Garbus said. "And it worked out perfectly."
The three Albertans now stay in contact and consider themselves friends, 40 years after a random encounter.
"Those relationships that we all started will be forever ongoing, because of the appreciation each one has for the other," Perrault said.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
From outer space? Sask. farmers baffled after discovering strange wreckage in field
A family of fifth generation farmers from Ituna, Sask. are trying to find answers after discovering several strange objects lying on their land.
NEW Iconic Canadian song turns 50
Andy Kim's 'Rock Me Gently' is marking a major milestone, as it celebrates its 50th anniversary.
Oprah Winfrey: I set an unrealistic standard for dieting
Oprah Winfrey said on Thursday evening that she has long played a role in promoting unhealthy and unrealistic diets.
Prince Harry, Meghan arrive in Nigeria to champion the Invictus Games and meet with wounded soldiers
Prince Harry and his wife, Meghan, arrived in Nigeria on Friday to champion the Invictus Games, which he founded to aid the rehabilitation of wounded and sick servicemembers and veterans, among them Nigerian soldiers fighting a 14-year war against Islamic extremists.
Countries struggle to draft 'pandemic treaty' to avoid mistakes made during COVID
After the coronavirus pandemic triggered once-unthinkable lockdowns, upended economies and killed millions, leaders at the World Health Organization and worldwide vowed to do better in the future. Years later, countries are still struggling to come up with an agreed-upon plan for how the world might respond to the next global outbreak.
Toronto police called to Drake's Bridle Path mansion for another alleged intruder on Thursday
Toronto police say a man who allegedly attempted to access Drake’s Bridle Path property was taken to hospital on Thursday after an altercation with security guards.
Ontario family receives massive hospital bill as part of LTC law, refuses to pay
A southwestern Ontario woman has received an $8,400 bill from a hospital in Windsor, Ont., after she refused to put her mother in a nursing home she hated -- and she says she has no intention of paying it.
Flat tire on a highway? Here's why you shouldn't try to fix it
If you're cruising down a highway and realize you have a flat tire, you may want to think twice before stopping to fix it on the side of the road.
Broadcaster and commentator Rex Murphy dead at 77: National Post
The National Post is reporting that Rex Murphy, the pundit and columnist who hosted a national call-in radio show for decades, has died.