Thanks to MyHeritage DNA, A Father Reunites with the Daughter He Never Knew He Had
- By Esther
Anne Angot was born in 1972 in Ho Chi Minh, Vietnam, and was adopted by a French family at a year of age. She grew up knowing nothing of her biological family. All that changed after Anne took a MyHeritage DNA test.
Watch her story here:
About a year ago, Anne decided to take a DNA test with MyHeritage in hopes of finding her biological family.
She received a 3% match with a cousin in the U.S. who was searching for his own mother. The cousin connected the dots: a relative of his, Theo Vann, was stationed in Vung Tau, Vietnam from 1971–1972.
The cousin encouraged Theo to take a DNA test — and the results confirmed that he was Anne’s father. Theo contacted Anne through the MyHeritage inbox right away.
Theo, an American army veteran from Georgia, had no idea that the brief relationship he had with a Vietnamese woman in Vung Tau resulted in the birth of a child. He had since gone on to have 2 sons and a daughter, unaware that he had another daughter growing up on the other side of the Atlantic.
This past June, Anne traveled to Georgia in the U.S. to meet Theo and introduce him to her son — the grandchild he never knew he had. In September, Theo flew to Paris to spend more time with his newfound daughter and to get to know the rest of her family.
“It’s a miracle,” Theo told RMC, a local news station. “I’m in Paris to thank her adoptive family who raised her all these years when I was absent.”
“I am so happy, because he really resembles me,” Anne told RMC. “I have answers to some of my questions. I feel like a new person. It’s reassuring. It’s a real comfort,” she says.
DNA tests for non-medical reasons are restricted in France, and Anne regrets that this is the case. “It’s a true shame, because it really allows people who want to find members of their family to increase their chances,” she says.
Jeannie, Anne’s adoptive mother, feels the same way. “Adopted children have the desire to find their parents,” she told RMC. “We must do everything we can to help them.”
Anne hopes that MyHeritage DNA, which successfully led her to her father, may one day lead her to her Vietnamese birth mother, too.
Maty A Bono
March 12, 2020
I think these stories are wonderful. I, myself, having the benefit of a Mom totally interested in genealogy, have loved making the connections in my own family. But, the one that thrills me most is helping my friend, who was adopted, to find her birth mother, on Mother’s Day!! There is yet to be a physical reunion, but. I definitely want to be there when it happens.