Left Behind As A Newborn And Called ‘Dumpster Baby,’ Years Later His Life Changed Upside Down

hours after he was born in 1989 freddy figures was set down next to a dumpster in a rural area of florida's panhandle a passerby found him alone and in distress and called police the infant was hospitalized with minor injuries for two days then placed in a foster home the couple who took him in nathan and betty figgers lived in nearby quincy flaw and already had a daughter shortly after freddy began living with them the figures who often took in foster children decided to adopt him in elementary school freddie figures said other children would bully him and call him dumpster baby when they learned he had been put out with the garbage as a newborn it's a rural area so after it happened everybody heard about it said faders now 30. my parents told me the truth about what happened as i grew older i thought about it a lot as a kid and i'd have to say it was embarrassing when i was younger his life hit a turning point when he was nine he said when his father paid dollar 25 for a broken 1989 macintosh computer at a thrift shop nathan figures who was a maintenance worker at florida state university brought the computer home and set it on the kitchen table so his son could tinker with it he thought that a computer might help to keep me out of trouble said figures his father was right figures took it apart and put him back together several times he figured out that he could get it to power on when he installed some components he found in an old radio that belonged to his father still have it figures said of that first computer it's what sparked my interest in technology he gotten so good at tinkering with computers that when he was 13 the city of quincy hired him to help repair his computer as he said when he was 15 he started his first company figures computers repairing computers in his parents living room and helping clients store their data on servers he created he was a self-starter and a fast learner after building his own cloud database he decided to skip college i wouldn't recommend my path to everyone said figures but it worked for me when i was 17 i had 150 clients that needed websites and storage for their files i just kept building from there his big break came several years later in 2012 he said when at age 23 he sold a gps tracker program to an undisclosed company in kansas for dollar 2.2 million figures he's father had developed alzheimer's disease and would frequently wander off when he was confused i created a device that i could insert in his shoe that would allow me to track him plus talk him through issue said figures nathan figgers died in 2014 shortly after freddy started figures communications and developed 80 custom software programs with the money he'd earned from his smart shoe technology it was difficult to watch and decline it's something you never forget said freddie figures i've always been so grateful to him my mom they taught me not to let my circumstances define who i was some would say that's an understatement figures who now lives in parkland fla is the founder of figures wireless a privately held telecommunications company that he said was appraised in 2017 to be worth more than dollar 62 million he also runs the figures foundation which domains to a variety of causes including relief efforts after natural disasters college scholarships for high school students and assistants with school supplies for cash-strapped teachers the best thing any human being can do is influence another one said figures who credits his adoptive parents for believing in him and allowing him to channel his energy into creative computer projects at a young age although figures does a sizable business selling his smartphones and data plans he said he is still passionate about combining technology with healthcare and safety he sells a wireless blood glucose meter for people with diabetes that allows patients to download and share glucose levels through bluetooth technology andy is working on a project similar to his smart shoe technology to help families stay in touch with loved ones experiencing homelessness that could be me on the streets i could have been homeless or dead if i hadn't been found by the dumpster after i was born he said after figures grew up he learned that his birth mother was a prostitute and had a drug addiction he said he has not met her and he has no desire to my parents adopted me and gave me love and a future he said they did their best to make the world a better place and now that's all i want to do too married to natalie figures an attorney figures said he is caught up in the joy of raising his first child rose who is too i'm a happy place in my life it's important to me to pay it forward he said i'm just one person but i believe that if i can have an impact on even one other person it can multiply i want my daughter to grow up knowing that