A man in Crawfordsville, Indiana, got the biggest surprise of his life when a DNA test connected him to an unknown sister who lived in the Philippines.
In December, Jane DeGrand sent Chris Livesay a message on Facebook with a match to the Livesay family tree from Ancestry DNA, an online DNA testing service.
The two are connected by the same father, John, who went to the Philippines in his late 60s and early 70s to serve in the Air Force. There, he met Jane’s mother.
“Apparently, my mom didn’t know she was pregnant until she was already five months pregnant,” Fox 59 quoted Jane as saying.
As it turned out, John had no clue that he was about to have a daughter.
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After the shocking message, Chris began connecting the dots and found a picture of Jane’s mother and his father.
“I was like well that’s my mom — and that’s my mom feeding your dad coconuts,” Jane told him.
To finally clear things up, the two took another DNA test and ultimately learned that they are siblings.
Jane, who now lives in Washington D.C., expressed relief that she actually had a father.
“It kind of validated me as having a father. He did exist. Even though he didn’t know I existed, I know he actually existed and he is real,” she said.
“I’ve had this cross for a very long time — there’s a little girl on it and she’s just there praying. Even though I’m 46 years old I always see this little girl in me and I see that cross and the little girl praying so hard for something and I always like that for some reason and every time I think of that I know what I’ve always prayed so hard for is figuring out who my dad is. So I’m leaving that with him and putting that little girl to rest.”
Jane eventually visited Chris and his family this month. The siblings also went to their father’s burial site together.
For now, Jane plans to spend more time with the Livesays and get to know them better.
Photos: Jane DeGrand/Facebook
