Emily Bushnell of Ardmore got the unexpected news of a lifetime on March 3.
She had discovered that she had a long-lost identical twin sister living in Florida, after opening an unexpected email. The “new” family met in Fort Lauderdale for the first time after finding each other through a DNA match on 23andMe. And Emily can thank her daughter for the reunion.
The story begins with Izzy’s curiosity. Emily’s 11-year-old daughter had wanted to explore her family tree on her mother’s side. Emily was adopted from South Korea and Izzy wanted to find her biological family. After matches here and there with very distant relatives, Izzy discovered a peculiar match over a year after joining. In March this year, Izzy and Emily received a message from a woman named Molly Sinert. The message stated that the site had matched Molly as Izzy’s mother. This was news to Molly, being that she had never been in labor before and did not have any children.
Molly, not looking for family on the site but rather for genetic traits, had actually found her niece with a 49.96% DNA match, making Molly and Emily identical twins. After hearing Emily’s heartwarming story, High Swartz, where Emily is the firm administrator, flew her and Izzy to Florida to meet Molly for the first time The sisters would properly meet each other for the first time on the rooftop of the Hyatt Centric Ft. Lauderdale on their 36th birthday, March 29th 2021.
Emily and Molly were born in 1985 in South Korea. After birth, they were inexplicably separated and taken to separate orphanages, where Emily was adopted by a Jewish family in Pennsylvania A few months later, Molly would be adopted to a Jewish family in Florida.
Molly plans to next visit Emily in Pennsylvania in the coming months while the new-found sisters also hope to visit South Korea together.
“Uncovering more about our story and possibly even finding new relatives would be another dream come true,” states Emily.
High Swartz LLP is a general practice law firm serving clients in the Delaware Valley and throughout the tri-state area from offices in Norristown, Doylestown and Cherry Hill, N.J.
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