DNA test helps sisters reunite after 71 years

Since being adopted as an infant, Katherine Fisher has spent most of her 71 years searching for her biological family. On Thursday, she achieved her goal, meeting her biological sisters for the first time.

"I'm so happy; it's so surreal," Fisher told KLAS.  "What a great Christmas present!"

Fisher, who lives in Las Vegas, Nevada, said her mother gave her up for adoption when she was born. The couple who adopted her responded to an ad in the newspaper. Her sister, Sonta Henderson still has the original newspaper clipping, which was the only piece of information that connected the siblings.

"We didn't know if she was alive, if she was not or where,” Henderson told KLAS.

Fisher said she encountered many roadblocks in finding her biological family. She was never formally adopted, and there was inaccurate information on her birth certificate, she said.

Her granddaughter, Amiee Sands, began helping in the search nine years ago.

“I was a little, you know, obsessed over it,” Sands said.

Sands said she searched yearbooks, census records, telephone books and military records, but to no avail. She then tried DNA testing. After three samples, Sands said she found a first cousin. That relative reached out to Henderson in April.

That led to the sisters meeting in Las Vegas.

“I never thought this could happen in a million years,” said Betty, Fisher’s other biological sister. “It’s just a dream come true.”

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