A woman who underwent a DNA test to find out more about her ethnicity was shocked when the results revealed details about her biological father and the family she never knew she had.
Christina, from Bristol in the U.K. told Newsweek that growing up, she always felt different. “I never felt like I actually belonged anywhere,” she said. “My skin used to always go really, really dark during the summer and I didn’t look like my three siblings.”
She had never considered getting a DNA test though until the U.K. voted to leave the European Union. Recalling that her grandmother had moved over from Ireland as a baby, Christina signed up to MyHeritage in the hopes of locating her grandma’s birth certificate.
That would allow her to apply for a dual passport. Ireland is still part of the European Union, so having it would allow Christina to move freely around the continent. It was while on the MyHeritage website that Christina came across the option to undergo a DNA test. “I thought I would give it a go because I wanted to find out more about my ethnicity,” she said.
Most people undertaking a DNA test do so to find out more about where they came from. A YouGov poll of just over 1,000 U.S. adults found 59 percent of respondents who took or were interested in taking a DNA test did so because they wanted to learn about their ancestry and heritage.
After sending off her swabs and waiting the standard six weeks, Christina ended up discovering more than she bargained for though. While her heritage was both English and Scottish, the results also revealed she had Southern European ancestry, including some Jewish and Iberian heritage.
That wasn’t the biggest shock though. When Christina logged on, a profile for a 94-year-old man popped up on the screen alongside a message informing her there was a “100 percent” probability that this man was her father.
Not only that, Christina was also informed she had seven half siblings and a previously unknown first cousin on her mother’s side who lived in Australia. “It was a huge shock,” she said. “I felt a bit sick.”
Gradually, though, she adjusted to the news and decided to contact her new siblings to try and put the missing pieces of her young life together. “The response I got was so lovely,” she said. It turned out they had already been contacted by another person on MyHeritage who was also their half-sibling.
“They were expecting it,” Christina said. “He was a Marine Commando, which is why two of his children are the result of affairs. He wasn’t at home much. The work meant he was away at sea, often for years at a time.”
During one of these periods, he had an affair with Christina’s mom, which led to her birth.
Christina’s mom had passed away a few years ago while the man she had always assumed was her father had been unwell and died just before Christina was due to meet her half-brother, the eldest of her biological father’s kids and one of her half sisters.
The half-siblings drove four hours to meet Christina, bringing with them photos and more information about the family she never knew she had. Going into that meeting, Christina had felt nervous about what lay ahead. But that quickly changed.
“After getting photos and meeting two of my half siblings, I feel blessed because I now know who I look like, I now know why I go so dark and I now know why I’ve got certain medical things,” she said. “For the first time in 56 years, I feel whole.”
Looking through the photos, Christina recognized facial features. She learned all of her siblings had served in authority roles, much like she had with a career in the police. They even suffered the same nasal problems she had as a child.
Christina has plans to stay in contact and, in time, meet other members of the family. “Even if I don’t see any of them ever again, I know who I am now,” she said.
There would be one addendum to Christina’s MyHeritage DNA story though: the discovery of a long-lost cousin in Australia called Allison. Christina reached out and quickly discovered her auntie had given Allison up for adoption as a baby.
Christina’s aunt already had two kids by the time she got pregnant with Allison. She had already split up from her husband and was living with another man, Allison’s father, at the time. However, he left and with no means to support the child, she made the heartbreaking decision to put her up for adoption.
“My auntie was married and moved to Liverpool. She’d already had a son and daughter with her husband. They split up. She then met someone and they lived with her for a while. She got pregnant and he left soon after. “My auntie had a severe breakdown and ended up in an institution for six months,” Christina said.
When Christina contacted her aunt, who is still alive and living in Canada, her reaction was an emotional one. “She told me ‘you’ve made my life long, wish come true. I’ve always wanted to reconnect with her before I died,’” Christina said.
Allison is now in contact with her mom. More significantly, however, she ‘s struck up a unique bond with Christina. “Alison talks every week, and we’re more like sisters and we are cousins,” Christina said. The plan now is for the two cousins to meet.
When Christina took her DNA test she felt like she didn’t belong. Now everything has changed.
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