Biological Siblings Meet For Very First Time After Pandemic Delay
A pair of adopted biological siblings cried in each other’s arms when they were finally able to meet in person for the very first time – a moment 30 years and one pandemic in the making. In the emotional footage, Ashley Fredette, 30, can be seen heading down an airport escalator and into the waiting arms of her older brother, Reid Gilfillan, 36. The pair live in separate parts of Canada, and having found each other before the pandemic struck, they were then forced to wait six months to finally meet in person. That moment, which took place on July 16, marked the end of a decades-long search for Ashley, who was born into a closed adoption with few details about her birth mother. Reid had previously been given up for adoption, too, only his adoption was open. It wasn't until Ashley was 16 that her identity started to bother her, and so her supportive adoptive parents encouraged her to look into her biological roots. After 10 years of trying Ashley was having little luck – but then, in 2017, the website 23andMe, which Ashley had been a member of for years, threw up a match. From there she was able to connect with her sister, father, mother and eventually via a grandparent her half-brother, who shared the same mom as her. But as they prepared to reunite in person, the pandemic struck meaning they were forced to wait six months to reunite in person in Ottawa.
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