Continued from Part 1…………

Due to laws, Mariah, was unable to get her original birth certificate until she turned nineteen. On Jan 31, 2004, Mariah’s nineteenth birthday, from her college dorm in Chicago, she sent a letter she had prepared ahead of time to the Minnesota Department of Healthy requesting a copy of her birth certificate. By the time she flew back home to Minnesota for spring break, the birth certificate was there.

Her adoptive parents had already looked at it and found out that her premonition a few years earlier had been correct. Tom Burnett, one of the United Flight 93 heroes, was her birthfather!

While in college, Tom Burnett’s then girlfriend became pregnant in an unplanned pregnancy. The two were opposed to abortion and initially wanted to get married and parent. Tom was very involved in the pregnancy, working two jobs to pay for medical bills and present for his daughter’s birth. Eventually, the two decided it would be best for the baby if she was placed for adoption.

After finding out she was indeed the biological daughter of Tom Burnett and unsure of the reactions of Tom’s family, Mariah’s mother sent word through Catholic Charities, that Mariah was interested in meeting them. They too were interested in meeting her. They were unsure what Tom’s family and his wife, Deena, knew of Mariah’s birth and adoption.

Mariah volunteered to have a DNA test just to be sure she was indeed Tom’s daughter. Her DNA was tested against a sample of Tom’s and proves that she is “absolutely, without a doubt” Tom’s daughter.

So, to make a long article a bit shorter, Mariah has ended up meeting most of her birth family, including Deena, Tom’s daughters, parents, and sisters. She has been welcomed in by most of them. She has ongoing relationships with her half sisters and Deena. She has gotten to know the type of man and father Tom Burnett was through his family and Deena was even able to give her a letter that Tom had started writing to Mariah when she was younger for the day they would be reunited.

Mariah concludes the article by saying, “Even if he’d never been on that plane on September 11th, he’d still be a hero to me. He gave me life and a chance with a wonderful family.”


Story from the St. Paul Pioneer Press