A DNA test led them to their missing sister after nearly 60 years of searching

After searching for 57 years, two women have finally found their long-lost older sister — thanks to a DNA test.

Trish Caller, 61, and June Thompson, 63, have spent most of their lives searching for their older sister, who was just four when she was placed for adoption by their late mother, Mary Wills, who was young and unmarried.

Mary gave birth in 1948, and she and her baby, Geraldine, were living in Bessborough Mother and Baby Home in County Cork, Ireland. They were there until the nuns who ran the home forced her to place her young daughter for adoption in 1952. In 2021, the Irish government investigated this same mother and baby home due to allegations of forced adoptions and cruel treatment of unwed mothers.

After the forced adoption, Mary Wills left Ireland for England, and in 1956 met and married Peter Wills. They had three children — Trish, June, and a son, Stephen, now 65.

Mary passed away in 2011, but her children always knew about the older sister who was out there somewhere.

Nearly six decades ago the siblings began searching for their sister without success. Then, in 2023, Trish’s daughter, Laura Polley, 34, took a DNA test through Ancestry; it had been a Christmas gift from her parents. At first, the test yielded no matches.

But just two years later, in January 2025, Geraldine Ratcliffe uploaded her own DNA test to Ancestry — and on April 1, 2025, she was matched as a relative of Laura Polley.

Laura reached out to Geraldine through email immediately, leaving Geraldine to believe it was all an April Fool’s Day joke.

Just three weeks later, on April 23, the siblings all met for the very first time.

“It has been a real rollercoaster,” said Trish. “I thought Laura was playing an April Fool’s on me — turns out Geri thought the same thing too. Meeting for the first time was emotional, and I felt an instant feeling of love for Geri. Me, her and June all have the same laugh — I can’t believe how similar we all look.”

“We feel like Mum is with us now and this is what she would’ve wanted,” Trish added. “Having Geri in my life is something I’ve always wanted.”