Michigan Woman Takes A DNA Test, Finds Out She Has A Sister

Comedian Jim Gaffigan once joked that you shouldn't take a DNA test, because you'll only find out bad things about your family. Well, here's the exception to that rule.

It All Started When A British Woman Wanted To Find Her Biological Mom

When 59-year-old Diane Ward, who was born in Michigan and knew she was adopted, wanted to find out more about her biological parents, she did what  many do nowadays, she took a DNA test and submitted to MyHeritage.com back in 2018.

A couple weeks after taking the test, she got the results and saw that she matched with someone who was likely her second or third cousin. She reached out to them and they asked her if she had ever met her half-sister, Mary. "I'm sorry," Diane told her newly found cousins, "I don't have a half sister."

"Yes, you do!" was the response. And that set off another discovery that Diane was never aware of, that her biological mom had another girl three years after her.

Diane Finally Gets To Meet Someone "Just Like Her"

Diane was surprised and excited. "I was focused on parents," she says. "For some reason, it just never occurred to me that I might have a sibling." 

Unlike her, Diane's half sister, Mary, 56, was raised by their mother for a few weeks before being adopted by a neighbor. Over the years, she maintained a connection with their mother until she passed away years ago. But she also had no idea she had a sibling.

Diane's Husband Could Tell They Were Sisters When He Heard Mary's Voice

When the sisters first made contact in 2019, they talked for hours and kept in touch via video chats and messaged each other daily. Then after only seeing each other over the Internet, the two sisters finally met face-to-face this summer.

They spent a week together along the North Carolina coast, and although they wish they’d have known one another earlier, they’re happy to have each other now.