DNA test helps two sisters find each other across thousands of miles - video

Two half-sisters living thousands of miles away from each other - in the Netherlands and Australia - have enjoyed an emotional meeting after finding each other through a MyHeritage DNA test.

Janny, aged 80, lives in Flevoland, in the Netherlands. The story began when her niece, Annemieke - an avid genealogist - asked her to take a DNA test. Unbeknown to her, Tonny, who is 70 and lives in Australia and is herself a genealogist, had also recently taken a DNA test.

In November 2017, the genetic match was discovered; Janny was surprised when her niece Annemieke told her that she found Janny’s half-sister across the globe through a MyHeritage DNA Match.

The pieces came together quite quickly: Janny and Tonny realized they had the same father, a baker in Amsterdam who had had relationships with each of their birth mothers. Born in Amsterdam in 1948, just a few streets away from Janny, Tonny had moved to Australia as a young girl with her family, who joined the wave of emigration out of post-World War II Europe.

Janny grew up in the Netherlands with their biological father (the baker), her mother and her two other sisters, both of whom have recently passed away. This week, Tonny flew from Australia to the Netherlands to finally meet her half-sister Janny. The pair's emotional meeting, shown below, made the national news, with coverage on Netherlands TV.

The sisters meet - video

So successful was the meeting that the sisters enjoyed several weeks together, exploring Amsterdam and getting to know each other. Talking to MyHeritage, Tonny said: 'What I just discovered is mind blowing. I DO have a warm, loving family that is sweet and caring! We have the same DNA, we are the same kind, I can tell. That is such a great feeling. I’m flabbergasted and over the moon.'

For more on DNA tests, visit the MyHeritage website.