A woman was shocked to discover she had five biological brothers and tracked them down on Instagram to reunite after 15 years.
Jessica Murace, 20, learned when she was 14 that she was adopted as a baby. She had accidentally found the social services documents after the family moved into the house.
She found a book she had never seen before. In it, there were pictures of children who looked like her.
She realized she had five siblings – Heather, 25, John, 24, Katy, 22, Nicole, 21, and her late brother William, who died last year aged 18 – after seeing pictures of them in the book.
Murace kept the revelation to himself at first. She was dealing with shock and anxiety. She did not tell her parents what she had found.
“I cried a lot, it was a very lonely time, especially since I felt like I couldn’t talk to my foster parents about it,” she told SWNS.
But months later she decided to reach out to her siblings by sending them messages on Instagram.
She said: “I just sent them a message saying, ‘Hey, I think I’m your sister,’ and they asked me to prove it to make sure it wasn’t someone pretending,” so I sent my personal information and certificate of birth.â€
Murace and her siblings agreed to meet with both sets of foster parents. They met halfway in a restaurant in Birmingham.
“My emotions were mostly shock. I’m not usually a very emotional person, I didn’t really know what to say, – said Murace.
“It was just weird to see them look so much like them. I saw me in them.
“It hasn’t always been easy, but I’m happy to have met them. I have been given a chance to know who I really am.
“It was surreal. For the first time, I saw people who looked like me, it was completely overwhelming.â€
The luxury retailer said she always felt different. Even the kids at school teased him because he looked different. She had been told she was adopted at the age of five. But, she has been forgotten.
When she asked when she was older, they denied it. They didn’t want her to be negatively affected by the information.
Her parents Gillian and Pietro said: “It’s hard for us to talk, but it was selfish to keep it from her, and we regret it so much and live with it every day.
“We love her so much and we just didn’t want her to leave us.”
Murace has developed a relationship with her siblings, visiting several times a year, and says she finally feels like they are truly brothers and sisters.
She emphasizes the importance of honesty about adoption and believes it is important to be honest with children about their beginnings.
She said: “When I found out, I had a massive identity crisis, it felt like my life was a lie.
“But I have no regrets about revealing the truth.”
Jessica says the discovery has helped her understand why she always felt like she was missing a deeper connection.
She said: “I can’t wait to build our relationship.”
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Image Source : nypost.com