All over the world, long-lost family members are searching for one another. One twin discovered that her long-lost sibling was actually just down the road.
Karen Warner’s adoptive parents were always open about her past. Naturally, Karen was interested in discovering more about her biological parents.
For decades, Karen was unsuccessful in discovering her biological family. She had no idea who her parents were, even after exhaustive searches.
But in 2018, the Indiana State Government passed a new law that allowed anyone who was adopted before January 1, 1994, to access previously confidential birth records.
Finally, after more than 50 years, Karen was able to discover who her parents were. But she discovered much more.
Karen’s mother was named Joanne Cunningham. And when she gave birth to her, she also gave birth to a second child, Karen’s twin brother.
Karen told CBS 4:
“I called my daughter and I said, ‘Oh my gosh, Brittany.’ I said, ‘I’m a twin!'”
Naturally, Karen felt a range of emotions.
She was excited about the idea of meeting a long-lost twin brother. But also she was angered that she had had no idea of his existence for so long.
Karen was spurred on to find her brother.
She hoped that he was still alive and well. So she took to the county records, hoping to find the sibling.
Eventually, she found a man named Michael Jackman.
He was born on the same day as her in the same hospital. But was he Karen’s brother?
So she looked him up on Facebook and was shocked to see that she was already friends with this man.
“We were just friends from school. That was it.”
So Karen contacted Michael, asking him if he knew his biological parents’ names. His response was the following:
“All I know is they told me Cunningham.”
Karen was convinced that this man was in actual fact her twin brother.
Then she asked where he lived. She was shocked to hear that he was only six blocks away from her own home.
So Karen went to meet Michael. They took DNA tests, just to make sure that they were twins. Those tests came back positive.
In school, they had been friendly with one another. In fact, they had both played together in band, with Michael playing on drums and Karen playing the clarinet. But naturally, they had no idea how similar they were.
Karen and Michael now have a lot of catching up to do. After all, they both left school long ago. They hadn’t spoken since.
Both Karen and Michael said that a void that had always existed in their lives had been filled.
But their search is not over yet. Their DNA results showed that they also have three half-siblings, who are out there somewhere.
It could be that they live just blocks away. Or they could live on the other side of the world. One thing that their recent discovery has shown is that while searching for long-lost relatives is stressful and difficult, it’s also worth it.
Hopefully, Karen and Michael will locate their three other siblings and be able to make up for all of the lost time.
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