(STORY IMAGE:KHQ.COM)
SPOKANE, Wash. -A woman in Spokane finally feels complete after she met her long lost sister for the first time. She says it was an online DNA test that connected them.
Cindy Nielson stood shaking at the Spokane Airport, as she waited for a flight to come in. On that flight was one person she was picking up.
“I’m here to meet my sister for the first time,” she says.
Cindy says her mother had to give her sister up for adoption because she was going through tough times. And ever since then, the two have been doing everything they could to find her with no luck. But then, Cindy’s niece took a test with 23andMe.
“She found she was a match to a first cousin,” she says.
Cindy says then the pieces started coming together, so she and her mom took the test to see if they would be a match with Jennifer Rey. Once they got the results back, it was clear they were a match.
They planned this meet up for the past four months, meeting for the very first time after 54 years. As soon as they saw each other, “they say that you instinctively know someone you're related to and it's really true,” Jennifer says.
While they have a lot of catching up to do, they’re excited.
“It's indescribable. It's that piece that's been missing has been replaced,” Cindy says. “I feel complete.”
The two are traveling to Montana to meet up with the rest of the family for their mother’s birthday and Mother’s Day.