Susan Webb, 69, from Essex, was forced to undergo electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) for depression after giving up her baby for adoption in 1967. The treatment erased all memories of her daughter, Samantha, from the first six months of the child's life.
Webb, who was 21 and unmarried at the time, gave birth in a hospital in Wanstead. Staff were unkind due to her circumstances and refused to let her breastfeed. She was allowed occasional visits with the baby, but her father, ashamed of the situation, would stay away. Webb felt she had to go along with the adoption to avoid further hurting her parents, who were still grieving the death of her brother David six years earlier.
Depression set in, and doctors decided on ECT without fully explaining the procedure. Webb recalls the intense pain and memory loss afterward. She cannot remember the adoption signing or even attending Samantha's christening.
Years later, after marrying and having twin daughters, Webb felt a persistent guilt and need to find Samantha. Following her husband's death, she contacted the ITV show Long Lost Family for help. Mother and daughter were finally reunited earlier this year, but Webb has no recollection of their early bonding, relying on photographs taken by her mother as proof.
Webb expressed frustration and anger at being robbed of those maternal memories, which she believes every mother should be able to recall.
