30 Years After Learning that My Birth Father Wasn’t the Man Who Raised Me, I Finally Found Out Who He Was

Ingrid Goeury, a MyHeritage user from France, knew since she was a teenager that the man she grew up with was not her biological father. After 30 years of questions, the MyHeritage DNA test finally provided answers. Here is her story.

My story begins in August 2018. I took a MyHeritage DNA test because I had known since age 14 that the father whose name I bore was not my biological father. At the time, it was quite a shock for me — a huge family secret that had come to light.

When I received my DNA results a month later, there were no close matches — just some very distant cousins scattered throughout the world. So I put it aside and moved on.

The surprise

But in September 2020, I received a message from Fanny Bourdarias. Fanny had taken the DNA test to help her half-brother, who also never knew his birth father (his mother died guarding the secret). She never imagined that it would be she who would find an unexpected match. She got the surprise of a lifetime!

I was abroad on vacation when she contacted me and sent me a screenshot of the MyHeritage site showing that we are a 25.3% DNA match and our estimated relationship was half-sister. At first, I was skeptical, but she told me things that no one could have known about her father. Our father. I was in total shock.

A family secret, finally revealed

I was born in Nancy, France — and so was Fanny, 5 years later. We lived mere kilometers from each other for years without knowing it.

Our father was a soldier, and he was transferred to several different locations before finishing his service in Corsica.

Unfortunately, he died of cancer in 2004. I will never have the pleasure of knowing him.

Fanny still lives in Corsica. Because of COVID-19, we have not been able to meet, but we have plans to meet soon.

I spent 30 years asking questions about who I was because I didn’t resemble anyone in my family. Fanny and MyHeritage have filled this hole in my life.

I now know that I resemble my father — in appearance, but maybe in other ways, too.

Fanny and I write to each other every day and send each other photos.

She sent me photos of our father and her 3 siblings. On my side, I have 2 half-sisters and one half-brother.

I had a younger brother, Olivier, born two years after me, in common with Fanny, but he unfortunately passed away from meningitis at age 20. He has been resting in Messein, a village 5 kilometers from my home, all these years without my knowing it.

I managed to broach the matter with my mother thanks to Fanny, who took the first step towards her. My mother made her feel very welcome, and they have been in touch regularly ever since.

This is our story in brief. I have no words to thank MyHeritage.

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Source: My Heritage