00:00 I was really, really shocked.
00:01 First, I thought it was an ancestry scam.
00:04 (laughs)
00:06 My name's Farrah.
00:12 And my name's Stephen.
00:13 So I had to start from this birth certificate
00:16 and then my wife helped me track down stuff,
00:19 but then we hit a dead end
00:21 and then we went to Ancestry and did the DNA
00:24 and hopefully was looking for some connection.
00:27 First, I thought it was an ancestry scam.
00:29 (laughs)
00:31 'Cause you know, I've been waiting.
00:32 I had one hit from a cousin,
00:35 from another cousin, a second cousin,
00:39 and I wrote to her, but she never answered.
00:42 So then I got on to log off of Ancestry
00:47 and be saying, "Okay, this didn't work."
00:49 And that's when I saw Farrah's message.
00:51 Well, I initially did it as a little bit of a joke
00:53 because it's been a longstanding running joke in the family
00:56 that I must've been switched at birth
00:59 because my family's quite bizarre.
01:01 So I did the DNA test as a bit of a joke
01:05 to sort of prove that I wasn't related biologically
01:07 to my family.
01:08 And of course I was.
01:09 And then when we got the results back,
01:12 it came back with Steve as a very, very close relative
01:15 and we'd never heard the name Stephen Bolton before,
01:18 so we didn't know who he was
01:19 and it was about piecing it all together.
01:22 - I was really skeptical and called Ancestry
01:26 and asked them if this was real
01:28 and what does it mean between first cousin
01:30 and close relative?
01:32 And they said, "More than likely with the amount
01:33 of DNA points that you had, it's your half-sister."
01:37 - I was really, really shocked,
01:39 but really, really pleased as well
01:41 because it meant that we had an extra,
01:43 we had an addition to the family
01:45 and we've had quite a lot of trauma and loss
01:46 over the last few years.
01:49 So to have a new member of our family is absolutely fabulous.
01:52 It was my mum that figured it out.
01:54 And when we looked at the timeline
01:56 of how old Steve was and mum being in London
01:59 around the same time, she sent a photograph to Steve
02:04 and he passed it on then to an extended member
02:08 of his family who actually identified dad.
02:11 But she said that, "Yes, Farrah,
02:13 this is probably your half-brother."
02:15 And then Steve again showed the photograph to his family.
02:19 First time I saw Steve on Facebook,
02:22 it was like actually seeing my dad in the flesh,
02:25 even down to the mow of his.
02:27 - Oh, thanks a point for that.
02:29 It was almost like I was relieved that finally,
02:33 you know, and to hug someone that's an immediate family
02:37 that you've never hugged before,
02:38 like you've never hugged anyone in your immediate family.
02:41 So yeah, emotional, I don't, yeah,
02:44 that's a hard answer to give you, but that's how it felt.
02:48 They have been great, open arms.
02:50 It's been fantastic.
02:53 (gentle music)
02:56 (gentle music)
02:59 (gentle music)
03:01 [BLANK_AUDIO]
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