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.
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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.
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.
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“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.”
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.
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"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.
“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