- Sisters Darragh Hannan and Jee Gained Ha have been born 14 months aside in South Korea, and grew up having separate lives in several international locations
- A long time later, the 2 discovered one another by MyHeritage DNA exams — and so they met in particular person for the primary time on Friday, Oct. 25
- ”Connecting with one another has answered quite a lot of questions for us,” the sisters inform PEOPLE
Two long-lost sisters simply had a reunion that was virtually 4 a long time within the making.
Darragh Hannan and Jee Gained Ha have been born 14 months aside in South Korea, however spent most of their lives aside, getting adopted by separate households and rising up in several international locations. However on Friday, Oct. 25, the 2 sisters, now grown adults, met in particular person for the primary time at an airport in Seoul.
“We have been emotional — crying, laughing, feeling joyful, and a bit anxious,” Darragh, a 39-year-old challenge supervisor for a museum displays builder, and Jee Gained, 38, who operates a knitting and stitching store, inform PEOPLE in an e mail.
“Since then, it’s been an identical expertise, in one of the best ways,” they are saying. “We really feel snug with one another and speak about deep issues like our feelings and the affect of our journey, however we additionally joke round and have enjoyable, laughing and sharing these distinctive moments collectively.”
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When she was 8 weeks previous, Darragh was adopted by an American household in Minnesota and grew up in Indiana, whereas Jee Gained was finally taken in by a couple in Belgium.
“We each knew we have been adopted at a younger age, however it wasn’t till later, round puberty, that we began to surprise extra about it,” Jee Gained tells PEOPLE, including that Darragh felt equally.
For years, their questions remained simply that, even because the sisters began making an attempt to be taught extra about their roots.
When Darragh took a MyHeritage DNA check in 2018, it yielded no connections. “I used to be like, okay, so I’m guessing they don’t have an enormous East Asian database at that time,” she recalled in a information launch obtained by PEOPLE.
In the meantime, Jee Gained was moved to take motion after listening to a neighbor’s unimaginable story.
That neighbor, Kim Haelen, discovered her long-lost U.S.-based sister, Christine Pennell, by a MyHeritage DNA test, and their experiences grew to become the topic of a 2019 documentary The Missing Piece.
“I heard about [Kim’s] story when she discovered her sister, and it was such an awesome feeling,” Jee Gained mentioned. “I assumed, I’m gonna name her.”
Then a number of years after her personal DNA check yielded no outcomes, Darragh obtained an e mail from Jee Gained.
“I opened my inbox one morning, and there it was: ‘Hey, I feel we’re sisters,’ ” Darragh mentioned.
Courtesy of MyHeritage
Video footage shared by MyHeritage reveals the 2 sisters assembly for the primary time at Seoul’s Incheon Worldwide Airport and tearfully hugging one another.
“Oh, you’re actually small,” Jee Gained even tells Darrah within the clip.
Darragh and Jee Gained inform PEOPLE that they are “each very grateful for our lives within the U.S. and Belgium, however there’ll all the time be part of us that wonders what it could have been prefer to develop up within the locations the place we have been born.”
“Adoption isn’t nearly saving a baby from their nation of origin; it includes rerouting a baby’s total life, which might deliver quite a lot of deep questions and trauma,” they add.
Nonetheless, the overwhelming feeling they’re experiencing proper now’s gratitude.
”Connecting with one another has answered quite a lot of questions for us — it’s given us a way of who we’re linked with and has proven us each the similarities from our shared nature and the variations formed by our distinctive environments, nurture,” they are saying. “Both means, it’s been unimaginable to get to know one another.”
