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Heartbroken father thought he'd lost his child, only for his granddaughter to reunite the family

'When we met at the airport, we ran to each other and...'

Heartbroken father thought he'd lost his child, only for his granddaughter to reunite the family
Two old siblings catching up. (Representative Cover Image Source: Getty Images | Photo by Taiyou Nomachi)

Imagine you have lived your entire life thinking you're a single child, only to wake up to another reality. This is exactly what happened to Sharon L., a retired nurse, who, after 71 years, realized she wasn't alone; in fact, she had a brother, Newsweek reported. Sharon had always seen her late father talk about a child he thought was put up for adoption in Japan after the war. Noting his grief, the information stayed in her mind without her realizing it was actually her brother, Akihiko N, now a retired Japanese professor.

An elderly woman looking shocked (Representative Image Source: Getty Images | Photo by Jerome Tisne)
An elderly woman looking shocked (Representative Image Source: Getty Images | Photo by Jerome Tisne)

Both siblings lived apart for decades, without knowing about each other's existence, but everything changed when Akihiko's daughter, Naima, took a DNA test in Tokyo. Well, the test results connected them to a California-based cousin, Charlene, who eventually led them to Sharon. When Charlene learned about a family in Japan, she immediately reached out to Sharon, informing her about it. "We have got cousins in Japan," she said. So, when Naima, who had been researching her family's origin, took the DNA test, she was confirmed to be related to Charlene. Further, when a DNA kit of Sharon was put to the test, the results were clear — Naima was her real niece.

A young woman with her father looking at some important documents (Representative Image Source: Getty Images | Photo by kali9)
A young woman with her father looking at some important documents (Representative Image Source: Getty Images | Photo by kali9)

Interestingly, Akihiko was completely clueless about his elder daughter trying to reconnect to their roots, but when he was informed about Sharon, his real sister, he was just speechless. "It was a great surprise to me, and it was hard to believe it was true, because I've not known about my birth father for about seven decades... But at the same time, I was deeply devastated because I learned my father is no longer with me," he said. Without further thought, Akihiko sent an email to Sharon, informing her about the shocking discovery. After their reunion, the siblings could finally get answers to the questions they had lived with their whole lives. Their father, who passed away in 2003, was a U.S. serviceman in Japan. He had fallen in love with a woman there, but returned to his own country while she was pregnant.

However, when their father went back to Japan, searching for that lady, he was told that she had given birth to a baby girl who had been given up for adoption. "Believing he had a daughter lost to the world, my father tried to search for her for years, fruitlessly. I saw my father cry over that many times throughout my life, because he couldn't find his child," Sharon said. Meanwhile, Akihiko's birth mother had shared little to no details about his father. She had only told him that his dad was an American who had passed away. Growing up as a mixed-race person in Japan wasn't easy for Akihiko, and he grew up feeling abandoned by his biological father.

Despite spending years away from each other, Akihiko and Sharon bonded almost immediately. "When we met at the airport, we ran to each other and just hugged each other and kissed each other like we'd known each other all our lives. It was an instant connection," she said. Imagine what would have happened if Akihiko's daughter had never taken that DNA test; perhaps, he could have never known about Sharon, someone he now shares a great bond with. Just like Naima, according to a report by IPSOS, 70% of Americans believe that knowing about your family history is necessary. Perhaps, they too are driven by the same curiosity that led Naima to reunite his father with her aunt.

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