She Bought a DNA Test on Sale for Black Friday. It Solved Not One, but Two Family Mysteries

We were two women living on opposite sides of the world, each with a piece of her personal story missing. One of us, Christina, was searching for her identity, feeling like the “odd one out” in her family. The other, Alison, had known since she was a little girl that she was adopted and longed to find her birth mother. We found each other through a simple DNA test, and our connection led to two incredible family discoveries.

Christina’s story: the sailor and the secret

Growing up in Bristol in the U.K., I always felt different. While my siblings looked like our father, I didn’t.

I was a fighter and fiercely independent — a trait that served me well in my career in the prison service, even as the first-ever whistleblower for the HMP in England. I had always dismissed my feeling of being an outsider, but my mother had once hinted at a secret when I was a teenager, saying, “You’re not the milkman’s, you’re the sailor’s.” I thought it was a joke and forgot about it.

Christina Buckler

Years later, I took a MyHeritage DNA test, which I purchased on a fantastic Black Friday sale, to find out more about my ethnicity and why I got so dark in the sun. The results came back and confirmed my mother’s long-forgotten hint: my biological father was a sailor named Ray! Not only that, but he was a Marine Commando with a rich family history, with ties to historical figures like William the Conqueror and Richard the Lionheart.

I had 7 half-siblings — a whole family I never knew existed! I reached out to them, and their response was lovely. I met several of them, and we had an instant connection. I finally understood why I was the way I was and even found that our family had shared traits like needing nose surgeries and even having ADHD. For the first time in 56 years, I felt a deep sense of belonging.

Christina with two of her newfound half-siblings

Little did I know, my own discovery was not the only one made possible by my decision to purchase that DNA test. It was about to change someone else’s life, too.

Alison’s story: the search for a birth mother

I was adopted at 7.5 months old and knew from a young age that I had an unusual story.

Alison Spence

My adoptive mother, who is still alive at 88 years old, went through immense heartache to become a mother. First, she adopted a boy. Then, she adopted a little girl who was sadly returned just 3 weeks later when the birth mother changed her mind. She then adopted another baby girl who was sick from birth and died of an infection after 12 months. My mom gave away all the baby’s belongings, thinking it would be many months before she could try again, but then I arrived. It was a long, painful process, and she went through “seven circles of hell” to get me, so I know I was a very wanted child. She raised me to be a strong, independent woman and has always been my biggest supporter. She even encouraged me to find my biological family, giving me a beautiful letter she had written to my birth mother on my 40th birthday. It was a letter thanking her for me and a testament to her unending love. I also knew my biological birth name because she had kept all my documents.

I decided to try a MyHeritage DNA test. I had distant matches at first, but two weeks before my subscription expired, I received a match that changed everything: my first cousin, Christina. I was at my wits’ end and was about to give up. So, when I received a message from her, I was completely blown away.

Our shared discovery

Christina: When our DNA results came in, I saw a first cousin match with a woman I didn’t know. After some research, I found out it was Alison Spence, my Auntie Madeleine’s adopted daughter, who now lived in Australia. I reached out to Alison, and we had an instant connection. She told me her subscription was due to expire in just two weeks — we had found each other just in time!

I was so excited, but I honestly didn’t know how my aunt would react when I told her. I was completely blown away when she told me I had made her lifelong wish come true, to be reconnected with her adopted daughter before she died. It turns out that she had been married and had a son and a daughter with her husband, but then she left him and met Alison’s father. After she became pregnant with Alison, he left her, and with no means to support her new baby, she made the heart-wrenching decision to place Alison for adoption. She’s now 80 and not in great health, and it meant the world to her to reconnect with Alison. My Auntie Madeleine told me that talking to Alison was “like speaking with me,” and Alison and I now feel more like sisters than cousins.

Alison: I’ve already told my adoptive mother about finding my biological family. She is so happy for me and has always supported my desire to connect with my biological family. Christina sent me pictures of my biological mother from when she was younger, and I was shocked by the resemblance — we look so much alike that it gave me goosebumps!

We’ve spoken a few times, and she’s “over the moon” every time I call her. I keep telling her not to feel guilty because I had a good, full life.

Christina and I talk for hours, and we have big plans to go to Canada together to meet my biological mother. MyHeritage brought us together and helped us both find answers and a sense of belonging we never knew we were missing.

Many thanks to Christina and Alison for sharing their double discovery with us! If you’ve also made an amazing discovery with MyHeritage, we’d love to hear about it. Please send it to us via this form or email us at stories@myheritage.com.

Both of these discoveries were made thanks to a DNA kit Christina purchased in a Black Friday sale, but you don’t need to wait to get an amazing low price on MyHeritage DNA! Check out our Early Black Friday DNA Sale now.

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Source: My Heritage