There was a wave of emotions when I received my DNA ancestry results. I was fascinated by discovering all the different parts of the world that made up who I am. Of course, that was not all the results revealed. The most emotional part was seeing the DNA results that matched with unknown relatives.
In the beginning, most of my matches were distant second- to third-cousins, none of whom could provide the health history I was searching for from immediate family members.
Eventually, I matched with a biological uncle on my maternal side. He was the first person from either side of my biological family who offered to answer questions about my adoption. Probably the most meaningful information he shared was my birth mother’s name. I couldn’t believe how much that simple detail meant to me. For the first time in 44 years of my life, I finally had a name for one of my biological parents. For the sake of this post, I will refer to her as “Liz”. It was overwhelming to say the least. He also confirmed that I had three half siblings— two brothers and a sister—from my maternal side.
He was able to provide insight into the health history of his and my maternal grandparents, of which I am grateful for. Unfortunately, he had lost contact with Liz over the years and had no idea where she was living. So while I had made some progress, I still did not have the immediate family history I was searching for.
From the start, I submitted my DNA samples to three different testing labs to increase my chances for matching with relatives—and ultimately, it proved successful.
On September 15, 2019, I matched with two maternal half-siblings on two separate DNA testing websites.
The first connection was with a maternal half-brother on 23andme.com. I sent him a private message introducing myself and explaining that my purpose in reaching out was to learn more about my health history for more peace of mind for me and my son. I assured him that my intention was not to disrupt anyone’s life, but hoped that he would be open to communicating. His response was almost instant. He was honest, kind, and willing to help me to the best of his ability with my questions about the family background. He shared that only months before my message, he and his siblings had learned about my existence from Liz.
In my next attempt, I contacted the half-sister with a similar private message on ancestry.com. Twelve days laterI received a reply—not from my half-sister, but from my birth mother, Liz!
Cue the emotional rollercoaster.