Susan (Suzy) Fraser, 64, was adopted as a baby and spent most of her life trying to find and connect with her birth family. A few years ago, she took a DNA test and found several half-siblings… who, as it turned out, had lost another sister years before with the same name and a very similar appearance! The siblings became close, and this fall, finally had the chance to meet in person.
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‘I need to tell you that I’m your daughter’
Born in Australia, Suzy discovered she was adopted when she was 5 years old, and from that point on, was very curious to know about her family.
Suzy as a baby. Photo repaired, enhanced, and color-restored by MyHeritage
In 1991, a change in the adoption laws in Australia made it possible for Suzy to open her adoption files. However, unfortunately, her request was denied because her birth mother wasn’t interested in contact.
Suzy was devastated, but undeterred, both by her birth mother’s rejection and by the fact that she could face a 6-month jail sentence for breaking the law and contacting her mother. She managed to track down her mother, and knocked on her door.
“I rubbed her arm and said, ‘I don’t mean you any harm but I need to tell you that I’m your daughter,’” Suzy told the Daily Mail in a recent interview. “She started to cry and I started to cry. She told me that I was breaking the law, and I told her to ring the police if she wanted. But she said, ‘I have been waiting for this. I just wanted this day to arrive.’”
As it turned out, Suzy’s birth mother was from the U.K. and when she got pregnant with Suzy at just 19 years old, she was sent away on a boat to Australia. Because of the stigma around unwed mothers at the time, she was forced to place Suzy for adoption. Suzy believes that her birth mother’s family didn’t think Suzy’s biological father, Raymond, was good enough for her.
Suzy’s mother wouldn’t show Suzy any pictures of her birth father. Apparently, her husband had cut out every photo of him from the albums she showed Suzy. Furthermore, Suzy’s birth mother forbade her to find him, saying that she would tell her on her deathbed, and that he was probably “drunk in some corner.”
“That is when I knew I had to take it upon myself to go and find my dad,” Suzy told the Daily Mail.
Suzy’s husband Tim supported her every step of the way and took an active role in helping her search for her father.
Suzy and her husband Tim
They tried searching birth certificates and various documents, but it was when she took a MyHeritage DNA test in 2018, at Tim’s recommendation, that the breakthrough happened.
‘We lost one Suzy and gained another’
The results matched her with a first cousin from Gibraltar, and that led her to several half-siblings living in the U.K., all her birth father’s children. Unfortunately, the father had passed away in 2010 and Suzy didn’t get a chance to meet him. Eerily enough, there had been another sister who had tragically passed away years before when she was just 19. This sister’s name was also Suzan (Susie), and the resemblance between her and Suzy was striking — not just in appearance, but also in character.
Left: Susie, the sister the siblings lost years ago. Right: Suzy. Enhanced by MyHeritage
Suzy’s siblings had no idea she existed, and they also believe that their late father had no idea, either.
“I saw the photographs of our sister Suzie who was nineteen when she passed away and also the picture of (our Australian sister) Suzy, as she is now and it was as if it was the same person,” Sharon, one of the Suzy’s newfound siblings, told News.com.au in an interview.
After making the connection, the siblings became extremely close, despite living on opposite sides of the world and not having had the chance to meet in person. They share a special bond and are in touch daily. One of Suzy’s sisters even sent her this beautiful drawing of her and her birth father next to each other, along with a note that read: “To my big sis Suzy, I realized that we all have pictures of us with dad except for you. I wanted you to have your very own picture of you + dad. I hope you like it, lots of love, Lil“
Drawing of Suzy with her late birth father, drawn by her sister Eileen
Finally, this year, they had the opportunity to meet for the first time in Thailand! Watch the moment of their emotional reunion in the video below:
“I just feel loved now,” Suzy told the Daily Mail. “We would walk along and hold hands and cuddle each other. There is nothing strange about it or uncomfortable about it. It is just awesome.”
The siblings embrace at the airport
“Suzy is now complete,” Suzy’s husband Tim told the Daily Mail. “She knows who she is. She knows where she comes from and she had never known any of that. It is a complete life changer.”
“It is brilliant having an older sister,” Eileen, one of Suzy’s sisters, told the Daily Mail. “We got on so well. It was non-stop laughter from the moment we met I thought I would cry at the airport but I was just so excited to meet her. There were tears, however, when we had to say goodbye.”
The siblings tour together in Thailand
Eileen said she was very surprised when Suzy first made contact, but all her doubts disappeared when she saw Suzy’s face. “She looks just like our sister Susie, who died when she was 19,” she continued. “I didn’t doubt it for a moment, as they both look so alike.”
“We lost one Suzy and gained another,” she added.
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The post After 60+ Years, She Finally Found Her Siblings. They Had Lost Another Sister with the Same Name Years Ago appeared first on MyHeritage Blog.
Source: My Heritage
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