Woman discovers co-worker is her mother

Woman discovers co-worker is her mother

ELDRIDGE, Iowa - Michelle Wetzell, who was adopted when she was 4 days old, wanted to find her birth mother. She didn't know it at the time, but all she had to do was look at the woman sitting behind the receptionist's desk in the hair salon where she worked.

Wetzell remembers telling her co-workers in 1996 at the Davenport salon that she wanted to meet her biological mother.

In February, she learned her mother had been a co-worker at the salon, just out of earshot of what Wetzell was telling her co-workers.

"There she was, the whole time," Wetzell said.

She began her search for her biological mother late last year after a blood test showed she had a high cholesterol level, which raised questions about her family medical history.

A doctor told her she needed to look into whether she had a family history of heart disease or other illnesses.

Wetzell went to the agency that handled her adoption and it agreed to facilitate contact between Wetzell and her biological family. A case worker at the agency noticed both women had worked in cosmetology and told Wetzell, who asked for more details.

After they figured out that the mother and daughter had once worked together, the caseworker called Cathy Henzen, 55, to tell her that her daughter was a former co-worker.

"I was like, 'Oh my gosh,'" Henzen said.

Wetzell and Henzen spoke on the phone that day. A week later they met at a restaurant.

They have spoken or met every few days, as they try to determine where the relationship will lead.