DNA Test Helps Kingwood Woman Find Birth Father Before His Death
KINGWOOD, TX - A Kingwood woman who received a DNA testing kit as a gift from her son, received a greater gift when she met her biological father on his death bed.
Colleen Lewis always knew she was adopted, and she never once entertained the idea of trying to find her birth parents, or learn why she'd been given up for adoption. It just didn't seem to matter, because she knew she was loved, and she dearly loved the parents she'd always known.
Colleen, who lives in Kingwood, was adopted out of Catholic Charities when she was just two weeks old.
"My mom and dad had four boys on their own, and they always wanted a little girl, so they adopted me," she said. "I grew up knowing I was adopted. It was no big deal. I just knew like I had fingers and toes that I was adopted."
Colleen said she was certainly curious about her birth parents and wondered who she looked like, but she dearly loved her adopted parents and four brothers, too.
"I always got the gut feeling that [searching for her birth parents] would hurt their feelings, but there was this curiosity of knowing who they were," she said.
During a conversation several years ago, Colleen mentioned to her oldest son how neat it would be to learn about her ancestry was through a DNA test. Shortly after that talk, he gave her a kit from 23&Me for her birthday and Mother's Day.
She submitted her DNA and her son sent it in for her and began monitoring the information.
A short time later, a first cousin related to her biological father appeared, who was living in College Station, not far from where her adopted parents were living.
She spoke with her biological father on the phone, who told her about how he met her biological mother on a blind date. She also learned she had two brothers and two sisters.
Shortly after that conversation, a first cousin from her birth mother's side of the family contacted her.
It was a going so fast for Colleen.
As she was learning about this new family, she received a phone call from her brothers and sisters that her biological father had emergency surgery. She got to the hospital and met him for the first time two days before he died of cancer.
She soon began communicating with Jeff, her biological half-brother and learned that her birth mother was dying of cancer, too.
Colleen drove to Brenham and met her half brother, and was able o see her biological mother before she died.
"It was surreal," Colleen said. "I can't tell you how much I love my parents and my adopted family, but there is something about meeting a blood relative. It's like an instant connection."
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