{"id":582519,"date":"2026-08-12T15:34:14","date_gmt":"2026-08-12T15:34:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/582519\/"},"modified":"2026-08-12T15:34:14","modified_gmt":"2026-08-12T15:34:14","slug":"childhood-friends-find-missing-piece-when-dna-test-reveals-they-are-sisters","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/582519\/","title":{"rendered":"Childhood friends find \u2018missing piece\u2019 when DNA test reveals they are sisters"},"content":{"rendered":"

HERTOGENBOSCH, Netherlands \u2014 Meena and Minal were left as infants at orphanages in India \u2060and grew up in different adoptive families in the Netherlands<\/a>, just a short drive apart. Now, 40 years later, a DNA test has shown that the childhood friends are biological sisters.<\/p>\n

Growing up, neither was aware that they had a sister. Then, as teenagers in \u20601996, while living just 100 miles apart, \u2060they crossed paths at a gathering for adopted children and felt an unusually strong connection.<\/p>\n

Their friends were amazed by their likeness and \u2060the girls swapped addresses. In correspondence, they jokingly called each other \u2018sis\u2019 before losing touch \u200bfor \u206015 years.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor years, I felt \u200ca hole in my heart,\u201d said Meena Geltink, 43, a mother of three, struggling to put words to her overwhelming feeling of joy. \u201cIt\u2019s like a missing \u200cpuzzle piece has been found.\u201d<\/p>\n

Geltink told her sister \u200con Tuesday at an emotional reunion in the Netherlands: \u201cWhen I see you, it\u2019s like I\u2019m home.\u201d<\/p>\n

Since discovering their relationship through a MyHeritage DNA test in April, which yielded a rare 100% match, \u2060the sisters spend hours every day talking and messaging.<\/p>\n

Minal Tijssen, 44, said she had no record of any birth relatives. She felt loved growing up with Dutch parents and siblings, but at the same time described a deep loneliness.<\/p>\n

Tears, hugs and laughter punctuated their first meeting since finding out they are related, followed by their first selfie together.<\/p>\n

Tijssen, who lives in France with her partner \u200cand two sons, was sitting on the couch in April when \u200ba pop-up on her phone said her DNA results were in. \u201c\u2019Mina: \u200cSister.\u2019 I couldn\u2019t believe it.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe were friends \u2060before we were sisters,\u201d Tijssen said. \u201cWe were sisters the whole time, \u2060but we didn\u2019t know.\u201d<\/p>\n

At first, Tijssen didn\u2019t realise it was the same teenage girl who had clung \u200cto her when \u200bthey first met 30 years ago. \u200cIt only sank in when she found \u200bher on social media and looked at photos. \u201cNow it\u2019s for real.\u201d <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"HERTOGENBOSCH, Netherlands \u2014 Meena and Minal were left as infants at orphanages in India \u2060and grew up in…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":582520,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[114,85,46],"class_list":["post-582519","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-business","tag-business","tag-il","tag-israel"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/582519","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=582519"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/582519\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/582520"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=582519"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=582519"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=582519"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}