A British woman was shocked to learn she had a long-lost half-brother after taking a DNA test ‘for a laugh’.
Farrah Khilji-Holmes, 52, bought herself and her mum genealogical text kits because for as long as she can remember, Khilji-Holmes’s family have joked she was switched at birth.
And while the results showed she definitely wasn’t the victim of a hospital baby swap, she did have a sibling living in Canada that she’d never heard about.
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Across the pond, Steve Bolton, 62, had also taken a DNA test, and after Bolton’s name came back as a match, the two siblings connected over Whatsapp.
As it turned out, Khilji-Holmes and Bolton share dad Dr Mohammad Elijaz Khilji, who passed away in 1998.
Dr Khilji and Bolton’s mum Pamela had a relationship while they were both living in London back in the 1960s, however Dr Khilji moved back to Pakistan without ever knowing Pamela was pregnant.
Dr Khilji fathered more kids in Pakistan before returning to the UK where he met Sue Burton and welcomed two daughters - Khilji-Holmes and her sister Zarah.
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Sadly, Pamela died when Bolton was just seven and he was put into care. Eventually, Bolton was adopted by a Canadian family and he lived in Toronto from the age of 13.
Khilji-Holmes and Bolton spent 18 months chatting back and forth before Bolton finally made the trip to his half-sister’s home in Pontefract, West Yorks.
Khilji-Holmes explained: “I did a DNA test as a joke and made my mum do one too. She’s my mum, there’s no doubt about that.
“But it came back with a close match to a man that it said was a first cousin or closer, but it couldn’t be sure because there was a wide range.”
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She went on: “I was sat in the pub when a message came through from Steve about 18 months ago and I shouted out ‘I’ve got a brother!’ It’s absolutely like seeing dad in the flesh. My friends who have seen him say he’s the spitting image of dad.”
Bolton added: “After you’ve been waiting for so long it’s hard to believe it’s happened. It’s completely surreal, I didn’t know how to process it.
"As I got older, a friend helped me get my English birth certificate. My wife did all the research and got me to go on Ancestry.com.
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“I got a couple of hits from cousins, but I was about to cancel my membership when Farrah messaged.”
He also shared: “She reached out to say I think you’re my half-brother and started asking questions about dad.
"I hope this encourages other people who have been adopted to do their research because it's really amazing."
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Aisha Nozari