'Hey, I know you you're my mother': mom finds long-lost son after cop's Facebook post

On a cold Toronto day in late November, Const. Jason Kirkwood heard someone calling his name as he walked down the street after leaving a bank machine.

"I saw it was Danny, and I thought, 'Uh-oh,' asI know he saw me at the bank machine," Kirkwood said.

He has known Danny MacKillop for about five yearsthrough his work with homeless people and those living with addictions.

Kirkwood is a special constable assigned to Toronto Community Housing.MacKillop, 38, is from Reserve Mines, Cape Breton, and struggled with heroin and fentanyl addictions.

"He asked me how much I had taken out. Then he asked me to count it."

Kirkwood said he was guarded as he tookout his money, as he figured MacKillopwould want some. But then he realized he only had $120 of the $160 he had taken out.

Then MacKilloppulledboth hands out of his pockets with$20 in each, saying the officer had forgotten the cash in the machine.

"I said, 'Wow, Danny, thanks,'" said Kirkwood.

He gave him some money and went on his way.

"I thought wow, that was pretty amazing for someone who is a substance user and has no source of real income, to give me back my money.So I wrote about it on Facebook."

A few weeks later, he ran into MacKillopagain and told him that he'd written a blurb on Facebook about his kind deed.

Kirkwood said MacKillopasked if he would do him a favour and tag him on the note, "'so my mom doesn't think I'm such a bad guy.'"

"I tagged him and then my page exploded with messages from Cape Breton," said Kirkwood.

One of those many messages was from Mary MacKillop, Danny's mother.

She hadn't seen her son in eight years, or been in touch with him for almost two.

"I was dazed," said MaryMacKillop. "I was trying to put it all together in my mind, like,oh my God, he's there, I gotta go."

She went to Toronto to find him and searched the streets with her sister.

"We checked every soup kitchen, every hostel, spoke to the security guard at different places."

As it got dark, Mary decided to end the search for the day.

Then, the almost impossible happened.

'Hey, I know you you're my mother'

"This man passed me by and said, 'Hey, I know you you're my mother,'" said Mary.

She saidseveral days later, with the help of many of Danny's friends, hemade it to a rehabilitation facility in Vancouver. Marysaid her son had tried various rehab centresin the past, to no avail. This time, she said, he really wants to get clean.

"Danny is calling me every day. Every day, he sounds more positive."

Kirkwood calls Dannythe hero in this story after that moment with the money and wishes him the best.

"Three words for Danny: You got this," saidKirkwood.

Mary plans to go to Vancouver in a few months to see Danny.

"Now that I've found him, I don't want to lose him."