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17th May 2022

Claire Byrne Live viewers in shock as woman shares family DNA secret

Katy Brennan

“A priest and a doctor had deliberately falsified my record without my birth mother’s knowledge.”

Monday night’s episode of Claire Byrne Live left viewers in shock after a segment about DNA testing provided some interesting results.

One guest shared her story of how she uncovered a major family secret through DNA, which changed her life forever.

“When I was 49 – about five years ago – my mother died, and about six weeks after her death, I discovered that she wasn’t my mother,” she explained.

“She had taken the secret to the grave. I had been adopted into this family but I was unaware and the second shock was when I discovered that there was no adoption agency.”

After researching what had happened, she discovered that a priest and a doctor had deliberately falsified her birth record – without her birth mother knowing.

“I had nothing, I know who I am because of DNA. I have an identity purely down to DNA,” she said.

Explaining how she got to the bottom of things, she said: “I started off with a fourth cousin in the States so that’s why it took so long, and then I was getting closer matches.

“For two years I sat with a laptop in bed because it becomes so addictive and it would be midnight and I would give up.

“You’re writing to people you match with, so total strangers – some shut it down or you’re left waiting for a response and it doesn’t come but you meet some amazing people.”

She finally managed to meet with her real biological mother, which she said “changed and enhanced” her life.

She concluded: “Only on Saturday just gone I was in my mother’s house with my brother, her sister, and brother who I’m so fond of now.

“We looked at a file that went back to the 17th century on all my ancestors and to me, it meant so much.”