A discount on DNA test kits leads elderly woman to discover her 'half-sister' eight decades later
'It's really weird, because I’m 76, and then I find out I have a half-sister...'
Kathy Marcus and Judy Hutchinson, two sisters given up by their birth mother and later adopted by different families, met each other for the first time nearly eight decades later — thanks to a friend who played Cupid. "It's really weird, because I’m 76, and then I find out I have a half-sister. I went 76 years not knowing. My mind is still blown," Hutchinson told Hagadone News Network.
Hutchinson knew she was adopted and openly spoke about it, especially with her best friend, Melody Bloch. She had wonderful adoptive parents, but Hutchinson was always curious about her roots. "From day one, she was just missing a piece and wanted a piece of something tangible to know about her life," Bloch shared. Ever since she was 12, all she ever wished was to reconnect with her biological family. "I wanted to know where I came from, or who I might look like," she recalled. Now, here's the thing — Hutchinson had everything — a loving family, a roof over her head, and basically everything one wished for, but she still wanted to know about her biological family. In fact, nearly 1 in 4 kids who are adopted make contact with their birth families even before they turn 18, according to charity Adoption UK. This doesn't necessarily mean that they aren't happy with their adopted family, but their curiosity to know about their roots is very natural.
About 10 years ago, Bloch gave Hutchinson an Ancestry DNA test and stepped in to help her best friend search for her birth family. Finally, their search ended when Marcus, who lived in Idaho, 715 miles away from Hutchinson, saw a sale on AncestryDNA kits in mid-November and randomly decided to try it. She said she didn't know anything about her origin, so she just wanted to give it a try to find out where she belonged. The results came, and Marcus was shocked when she read that she had a half-sister. Excited by the news, she emailed Bloch, and that's how the reunion of the sisters happened.
In her email, Marcus mentioned the unique name of her birth mom, Wanette, which actually confirmed to Bloch that she was Hutchinson's half-sister. On Christmas Eve, the sisters talked on the phone, and as Marcus mentioned, she felt "totally shocked and giggly, like a teenager," upon learning about Hutchinson. They also found out a little about their birth mother, who they believe had a very difficult life. She had polio, and later she possibly worked as a sex worker, Marcus and Hutchinson suspected. Moreover, they realized that their mom, who had married again and had another child, had passed away 17 years ago. Coming back to Marcus and Hutchinson, who have been just over the moon, meeting each other realized they have a lot in common, including a hip surgery and a passion for miniature equines. "From the nose to the chin, our facial structures are pretty much identical. Not the eyes, but the bridge of the nose to the chin," Marcus said. "We hit the DNA lottery," she added.
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