Adopted woman finally found her parents just before they died in the same month
An adopted 37-year-old who spent her whole life searching for her biological parents finally tracked them down – just before they both died.
American Megan Kennedy USA, managed to contact her mother and ‘everyone cried’ when they were eventually reunited for the first time three years ago.
But despite making contact with her father shortly afterwards, she never managed to see him in person before his death in the same month as her mum’s.
Megan, now a mum herself, also found two half siblings along the way, in a remarkable emotional rollercoaster lasting years.
She did share an emotional reunion with mother Patti Neil, who was a married boat hand when she fell for diver Johnny Cavalier and became pregnant in the mid-1980s.
Recalling the first in-person meeting with her mum in June 2019, the long-lost daughter explained: ‘I felt every feeling you could have felt – we met at Glasgow train station and literally ran across the platform to hug each other.
‘Everyone watching cried, it was like a movie.’
Megan, now a wedding photographer, from Birmingham, Alabama, said that she had initially reached out to Patti on Facebook – after discovering her mum now lived in Scotland.
The 64-year-old retired sales person didn’t reply straight away, and Megan was unsure if she would even see it or respond.
‘I told her thank you for giving me up for adoption – I introduced myself’, she said.
‘I wrote: “Hi this may be an odd message – I’m looking for my biological mom, her name was Patti Neil Whiting, I thought I looked a lot like you”.
‘Patti replied: “Oh my goodness. Megan you’re beautiful – was just thinking about you last night.”
‘I screamed – it was a guttural scream.
‘Every dream and wish I had come true, every birthday I’ve ever had I’ve looked for her.’
Megan always knew she was adopted and on her 18th birthday applied for her original birth certificate and found her biological mum’s name.
Then, in December 2018, new records on ancestry.com meant Megan found Patti’s details on the 27th page.
She discovered her mum lived in Scotland, where Megan travelled to in June 2019 and the pair chatted for hours.
But in February 2022, Patti died unexpectedly after struggling with stomach issues.
Megan had previously found a genetic match with a half-sister, Kayla, 30, in 2018, via GEDmatch and then discovered an aunt, Kathy, 66, in September 2020.
Those matches led her to discover her biological father, retired businessman Johnny.
But the 62-year-old, like Megan’s mother, died weeks after Covid stopped a planned meet up at his home off Honduras.
Johnny had succumbed to polycystic kidney failure before he could meet his daughter in person but did speak to her virtually.
Megan has travelled over 4,000 miles across the world to reunite with her long-lost family – and despite losing both birth parents, feels she has found her ‘true identity’ and ‘all her people’.
She said: ‘It’s almost hard to put into words how it feels – it’s an immense feeling of peace.
‘Every birthday I spent hours looking for Patti, it’s amazing to think I will never have to look again.
‘It’s bittersweet, but I’m so grateful I reconnected with my biological parents before they passed.’
Patti had explained that Megan’s grandmother, was from Wales and her grandfather – who fought in World War Two – was from Fort Worth, Texas.
That is where Patti grew up, but fell for ‘ladies’ man’ Johnny when he was 24.
She told Megan they had a month-long relationship and that’s when she was conceived but she did not make Johnny aware because she was already married to someone else.
Patti said she gave Megan up in the hope that she would have a better life after giving birth in Mobile, Alabama, where Megan was adopted by Arthur Forehand, 71, a retired pharmacist, and Cassie Wilson, 72, a medical transcriptionist, through an adoption agency.
As for her father, Patti couldn’t remember his name, but Megan received a DNA match on website for a half-sister, Kayla, 30, a full-time mum, from New Orleans, Louisiana, US.
‘I was ecstatic, I cried because I’ve always looked for a mother and a father – I never thought I would have siblings,’ Megan said.
‘It was the biggest bonus.’
The sisters downloaded their ‘raw DNA’ and uploaded it onto another website – GEDmatch – revealing that they shared a father.
Weather warnings in place after Storm Claudio brings more wind and rainThey FaceTimed and received an ancestry match for an aunt, Kathy Colllins, 66, in Highlands, Texas.
Kathy told them: ‘There’s going to be some surprises, you need to buckle in.’
Their aunt revealed she had two brothers – one had been married since high school, so they ruled him out as a potential dad.
Then they sent over photographs of Johnny.
‘When I saw the photo, my heart dropped to my toes,’ Megan said.
‘I knew it was him, he looked like Kayla.’
Kathy reached out to Johnny on the girls’ behalf, and he asked for them to send letters.
‘He completely accepted us both, he was so open and sweet and wanted to get to know us,’ Megan said.
‘He has a wife, Ragnhildur, 35, two years younger than me and a seven-year-old child, Ajay, my little brother,’ she explained.
Johnny and his family all lived in Roatán, an island off the coast of Honduras.
In September 2021 Megan was set on travelling to meet her father but faced issues with extortionate flights, Covid and taking her three-year-old, Cora, with her.
They decided to hold off but in November 2021, Johnny was diagnosed with polycystic kidney disease and Megan didn’t realise just how ill he was.
Megan was booked to finally meet her father in January 2022 but was struck down with Covid and couldn’t travel.
Two weeks later, Megan received an earth-shattering phone call from Ragnhildur, to say Johnny was in hospital and it wasn’t looking good.
He died a few hours later on February 17, 2022.
‘That was terrible. It was so hard, I hated we got Covid the week we were meant to go,’ Megan said.
But the following month, Megan travelled down to Roatán to spread her late father’s ashes in the Caribbean sea in an emotional celebration of his life on a boat.
Megan met her little half-brother Ajay, seven, for the first time and her step-mum Ragnhildur.
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