{"id":35482,"date":"2024-07-22T10:00:00","date_gmt":"2024-07-22T08:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/b2ca5397-b8ed-4cca-984a-2b12e9d3eddc"},"modified":"2024-07-22T10:53:14","modified_gmt":"2024-07-22T08:53:14","slug":"heartbreak-and-joy-on-long-lost-family-as-melanie-53-meets-her-sisters-and-nephew","status":"publish","type":"rss_feed","link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/wdytya\/rss_feed\/heartbreak-and-joy-on-long-lost-family-as-melanie-53-meets-her-sisters-and-nephew\/","title":{"rendered":"Heartbreak and joy on Long Lost Family as Melanie, 53, meets her sisters and nephew"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"rssexcerpt\"><\/p><p class=\"rssauthor\">By <\/p><p class=\"rssbyline\">Published: Monday, 22 July 2024 at 08:00 AM<\/p><hr class=\"no-tts wp-block-separator\"\/><?xml version=\"1.0\" encoding=\"UTF-8\" standalone=\"yes\"?>\n<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC \"-\/\/W3C\/\/DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional\/\/EN\" \"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/TR\/REC-html40\/loose.dtd\">\n<html><body><p>The new episode of <em><a href=\"https:\/\/www.whodoyouthinkyouaremagazine.com\/tv-series\/long-lost-family-born-without-trace\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Long Lost Family<\/a> <\/em>will air on ITV tonight (22 July) at 9pm.<\/p><p>Presented by <a href=\"https:\/\/www.whodoyouthinkyouaremagazine.com\/tv-series\/episodes\/davina-mccall\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Davina McCall<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.whodoyouthinkyouaremagazine.com\/tv-series\/episodes\/nicky-campbell\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Nicky Campbell<\/a>, <em>Long Lost Family <\/em>is a programme about people tracing their long-lost family members with the help of the show\u2019s team of expert researchers.<\/p><p>In tonight\u2019s episode, viewers meet 53-year-old Melanie Mackney from Hampstead. Melanie was adopted and only learned about her birth family when she accessed her records as an adult.<\/p><ul><li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.whodoyouthinkyouaremagazine.com\/tutorials\/adoption\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Find out how to access adoption records with our guide<\/a><\/li><\/ul><p>Melanie\u2019s birth mother Maria was from Yugoslavia and fled the Communist regime after the end of the Second World War. She initially sought refuge in Australia, before moving to Britain.<\/p><p>Melanie discovered that she has two older twin sisters, Kathleen and Rosemary, who were born a year before her. They were also adopted. She also learned that Maria suffered from mental health problems that appeared to be schizophrenia. This put her off having children of her own.<\/p><p>Before appearing on <em>Long Lost Family<\/em>, Melanie did a DNA test. She didn\u2019t match with Kathleen and Rosemary, but she was astonished to find two more sisters she didn\u2019t know existed.<\/p><ul><li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.whodoyouthinkyouaremagazine.com\/feature\/which-dna-test-should-i-take\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Find out which DNA test is best with our guide<\/a><\/li><\/ul><p>While she was living in Australia, Maria married and had two daughters, Helen and Mitza. She left them behind as young girls when she came to England.<\/p><p>Melanie has now been able to talk to her sisters via video calls. They\u2019ve sent her photos of Maria and told her more about her. Sadly, Maria died in poverty at the age of 43. All three now want to find Kathleen and Rosemary.<\/p><p>\u201cWhat happened to the twins, a year before?\u201d Melanie says. \u201cI wonder, have they had children? I think it would bring a lot of peace and comfort to me, to find out.\u201d<\/p><p>The <em>Long Lost Family<\/em> researchers manage to track down Rosemary, but tragically, Kathleen died in a road accident in 2021, aged 52. However, she has a son, 24-year-old Liam.<\/p><p>Liam was taken into foster care when he was seven because Kathleen struggled with mental health issues. But he says Kathleen was \u201ca good mother\u201d and they always stayed in contact, while he had a loving upbringing with his foster parents.<\/p><p>He\u2019s very excited to learn about Melanie: \u201cThis was my mum\u2019s dream to finally meet her siblings, her biological family, and myself to meet my auntie and mum\u2019s lost sibling, I think it would be really emotional and exciting.\u201d<\/p><p>The <em>Long Lost Family<\/em> team also meet Sue Stalley from Bedford. Sue became pregnant as a teenager. She wanted to keep her baby but her parents refused to allow her.<\/p><p>She gave birth to a son, who she called Richard, and was forced to give him up for adoption.<\/p><p>\u201cI was told to pack my bags, leave the baby in the nursery and just go,\u201d she says. \u201cSo I didn\u2019t get to say goodbye. I just cried all the way through it. It wasn\u2019t what I wanted, but then what I wanted didn\u2019t come into it, I don\u2019t think.\u201d<\/p><p>Sue then got pregnant again, but refused to give the baby up for adoption. She now has five children, who she brought up largely as a single mother, but she has never stopped thinking about Richard.<\/p><p><em>Long Lost Family<\/em>\u2019s researchers discover that Richard, now called Steve, is living in the Netherlands. He has served in the army and has a son, a daughter and three grandchildren.<\/p><p>Steve is thrilled to learn that his birth mother wants to meet him. \u201cDeep in my heart I always had a feeling and a hope that she would come and look for me,\u201d he says.<\/p><p>Steve and Sue are overjoyed to finally meet, along with Sue\u2019s daughter Stephanie.<\/p><p>\u201cThere\u2019s my son right in front of me,\u201d Sue says. \u201cI\u2019ve longed for that. My family is complete. I\u2019ve got all my children and that\u2019s all I\u2019ve ever wanted.\u201d<\/p><p>Melanie is also thrilled to finally meet Liam.<\/p><p>\u201cIt does feel like belonging somewhere,\u201d she said. \u201cI\u2019ve always wanted to belong. And he\u2019s really mine.\u201d<\/p><p>Since the programme was made, Melanie, Rosemary, Helen, Mitza and Liam have spent their first Christmas together as a family. Sue, Steve and Sue\u2019s other children are planning to go on a caravan holiday together.<\/p> <\/body><\/html>\n<hr class=\"no-tts wp-block-separator\"\/>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By Published: Monday, 22 July 2024 at 08:00 AM The new episode of Long Lost Family will air on ITV tonight (22 July) at 9pm. Presented by Davina McCall and Nicky Campbell, Long Lost Family is a programme about people tracing their long-lost family members with the help of the show\u2019s team of expert researchers. [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":24,"featured_media":35483,"template":"","categories":[1],"acf":{"readingTimeMinutes":"4"},"uagb_featured_image_src":{"full":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/36\/2024\/07\/heartbreak-and-joy-on-long-lost-family-as-melanie-53-meets-her-sisters-and-nephew.jpg",1200,800,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/36\/2024\/07\/heartbreak-and-joy-on-long-lost-family-as-melanie-53-meets-her-sisters-and-nephew-150x150.jpg",150,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/36\/2024\/07\/heartbreak-and-joy-on-long-lost-family-as-melanie-53-meets-her-sisters-and-nephew-300x200.jpg",300,200,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/36\/2024\/07\/heartbreak-and-joy-on-long-lost-family-as-melanie-53-meets-her-sisters-and-nephew-768x512.jpg",768,512,true],"large":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/36\/2024\/07\/heartbreak-and-joy-on-long-lost-family-as-melanie-53-meets-her-sisters-and-nephew-1024x683.jpg",800,534,true],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/36\/2024\/07\/heartbreak-and-joy-on-long-lost-family-as-melanie-53-meets-her-sisters-and-nephew.jpg",1200,800,false],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/36\/2024\/07\/heartbreak-and-joy-on-long-lost-family-as-melanie-53-meets-her-sisters-and-nephew.jpg",1200,800,false]},"uagb_author_info":{"display_name":"importmanagerhub@sprylab.com","author_link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/wdytya\/author\/importmanagerhubsprylab-com\/"},"uagb_comment_info":0,"uagb_excerpt":"By Published: Monday, 22 July 2024 at 08:00 AM The new episode of Long Lost Family will air on ITV tonight (22 July) at 9pm. Presented by Davina McCall and Nicky Campbell, Long Lost Family is a programme about people tracing their long-lost family members with the help of the show\u2019s team of expert researchers.&hellip;","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/wdytya\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rss_feed\/35482"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/wdytya\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rss_feed"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/wdytya\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/rss_feed"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/wdytya\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/24"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/wdytya\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/35483"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/wdytya\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=35482"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/wdytya\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=35482"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}