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Utah woman reunites with family she never knew thanks to DNA database

Posted at 10:06 PM, May 15, 2016
and last updated 2016-05-16 10:07:27-04

HIGHLAND, Utah -- It's a moment Diane Meek has been waiting for her entire life.

"I just never thought this day would happen and I'm very excited," Meek said.

This weekend she got to meet her birth mother for the very first time, and it's all thanks to ancestry.com.

"I’m just grateful and blown away from what the DNA testing can accomplish," Meek said.

The Utah-based website introduced Meek to her heritage. The first person she met was her first cousin, Andrea Conley.

"Wow, we're first cousins, and we hugged and we cried, and we hugged some more," Conley said.

It turns out, they had been living two blocks away from each other this whole time.

"She's been living there 18 years, and I’ve been living here 13 years," Conley said. "That close, and had no idea we were that closely related."

Soon after, Meek talked to her mother, Sharon Aelling, on the phone for the first time. Then she organized a family reunion so everyone could meet in person. Saturday, that moment she's been waiting for finally happened.

"You think all these years that nobody knows, nobody cares. Then you find out different," Aelling said.

Within minutes, Aelling met her daughter, grand-daughters, and great-granddaughters. A moment which will change the face of this family forever.

For more information about AncestryDNA, click here.