A Pennsylvania woman got an unexpected holiday surprise after discovering that her childhood pen pal was the same doctor who later delivered her two children.
Megan Lewis, 38, was visiting her parents over Thanksgiving when she stumbled upon old letters she had written to a pen pal in the 1990s, she told the ABC-owned Philadelphia station WPVI.
Curious, Lewis searched online for the person she had once exchanged letters with—and was stunned to see the face of her own OB/GYN, Dr. Suzanne Pugh, ABC News reported.
“My mouth dropped. I could not believe that my pen pal was Dr. Pugh, who was my OB/GYN and delivered my kids: Caroline and Jack,” Lewis told WPVI.
Typed and handwritten letters shared by ABC News show messages Lewis received between 1994 and 1995 from someone then known as Suzanne Koziol, Pugh’s maiden name.
“I was looking at the letters thinking, ‘Who is this?’ I Googled the name and her picture popped up with her maiden name, and I was shocked. I couldn’t believe it,” Lewis said, according to the outlet.
At the time, Pugh—now 47—was an 11th grader at West Chester East High School, while Lewis was a second grader at Fern Hill Elementary School, WPVI reported.
Lewis began seeing Pugh in 2018, when she became pregnant with her first child. Pugh works with Main Line OB/GYN, part of Axia Women’s Health, according to ABC News.
“I went through a tough time before getting pregnant with my daughter, and Dr. Pugh was really there for me and really supported me during my pregnancy with my daughter, Caroline, and then my son Jack,” Lewis recalled. “She made sure she was the doctor for my deliveries.”
After making the discovery, Lewis reached out to Pugh, who later explained to ABC News that she initially had no memory of the pen-pal connection.
“She texted me asking if I remembered having a pen pal when I was in high school,” Pugh wrote in an email. “I had no recollection of this. Her mom had given her a box of papers and mementos from elementary school, and inside were the letters from me. She sent me pictures of the letters and it was me! It’s such a crazy small world.”
Pugh added that one of the letters mentioned Lewis visiting her school at the time.
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Reflecting on the coincidence, Pugh told ABC News, “The amazing thing is that we didn’t remember being pen pals, but Megan is such a special patient and person. It’s incredible to think that we were linked 30 years ago.”
Both women described feeling a deep and meaningful connection. Lewis said she never would have believed it if someone had told her as a child what the future would hold.
“If I could go back in time and tell my 7-year-old self that the pen pal I was writing to would one day take care of me during my pregnancies and deliver my kids, I don’t think I’d believe it,” she said. “It’s just an incredible connection that we share.”
Pugh echoed that sentiment in her conversation with WPVI, saying, “I’ve always felt like Megan was such a special person and that we really connected. It’s amazing that, for whatever reason, our lives came together again 30 years later.”
