I Found My Birth Father After 22 Years of Searching with MyHeritage DNA

Tamika O. from Germany searched for her biological father for almost 22 years. Thanks to a MyHeritage DNA test, she finally found him.

This is her story:

On Thursday, August 8, 1985, at 3 P.M., my mother Maureen landed in Germany. From that point on, she lived in Erlangen with her new partner, Mr. O. My mother comes from Jamaica and Mr. O. had flown there several times in the past. When he met my mother, he promised her a better life. Unfortunately, nothing came of that promise. As a Black woman from the Caribbean, it was very difficult for her. She felt rejected, and unfortunately, she also felt the effects of racism and discrimination. And then there was her husband, who was busy working from Monday to Friday. Unfortunately, he didn’t really care about her as he had promised her at the beginning. She became frustrated and longed for his company, but he took little time for her. A lot went wrong and there was no solid footing for Maureen. Her entire family lived elsewhere. She had no friends and a husband who was never there.

An instant connection

One day in the summer of 1986, she came upon the barracks with Black soldiers from the U.S. There she met Jessy, a Puerto Rican charmer. He spoke the same language as Maureen, had the same background, listened to the same music… there was an instant connection. He had time, and made time for her, too. So this is where the love affair between the two began. Some time later, at age 22, she got pregnant, and at 23 she had me. At the time of my birth they were no longer a couple. Maureen thought she was pregnant by her husband and broke up with Jessy. Life went on…

I was born on April 21, 1987. The crazy thing about the story is that when I was born I didn’t look like my father, Mr. O. Evolutionary historians say that babies often look like the biological father at birth so he will recognize his offspring. Interestingly, my parents ignored this and let me believe that I was Mr. O’s daughter for 9 years. But that wasn’t the case! We took a paternity test, and 6 weeks later, the results were in: I was not Mr. O’s child. His disappointment was great, and unfortunately lasted forever. He took his grief with him to his grave. Since the paternity test results came in, he cut off contact with me forever — though obviously, my paternity was not my fault…

Tamika O.

Who was my father?

Of course, from that point on I couldn’t stop thinking about it: why wasn’t he my father? Why did my mother lie to me? Why so many secrets? Who is my biological father? My mother betrayed me and also Mr. O. Whatever problems they both had, they were not my problems. But I wanted to meet my father, and I didn’t know how. I wanted to know why, when, and where did I come from? I had thousands of questions and no answers.

When I was 15, I started really looking for answers. I tried everything I could to get information for almost 22 years. In the meantime, I was frustrated because I couldn’t get any positive results.

On December 2, 2022 I ordered a MyHeritage DNA kit. I was taking an anatomy course at school and that gave me the idea to try DNA, which was the one method I hadn’t tried yet. I thought to myself, “I HAVE to do it or I’ll regret it!” If I don’t get a positive result then I’ll give up…

Suddenly I have a big family!

On Tuesday, December 13, 2022, the result came — and there was a match to a cousin named Nilda. She connected me with my father, my 4 siblings, my grandmother, uncle, aunt, nieces and nephews. Suddenly I have a big family! All of them scattered across the States.

Tamika with her father

Tamika with her grandmother

From that point on, we have been in touch every day and I can’t really believe it all. My father was really happy, and we spoke a lot. It was pretty exciting. My mother gave me a plane ticket and in July 2023 I took a two-week trip to meet almost all of my family members. It was celebrated with beer and delicious food. I was in Allentown/Pennsylvania for over a week and met my whole family there. It was absolute madness and the highlight of my life. To this day we are all in touch. Thanks MyHeritage!

Thanks to Tamika for sharing her beautiful story! If you’ve also made an amazing discovery with MyHeritage, we’d love to hear about it. Please send it to us via this form or email us at stories@myheritage.com.