NC woman stolen at birth makes journey of a lifetime to reunite with biological mom in South America
RALEIGH, N.C. (WTVD) -- Emily Reid is back home in Raleigh from the journey of a lifetime to South America where she discovered her roots and met her birth mother for the first time.
"It was so much fun," Emily told ABC11. "It was the best week of my life."
Emily, 39, and her biological brother, Sean Ours, 40, were victims of human trafficking in Chile as babies.
Like thousands of other newborns, they were stolen from their birth mother, illegally turned over to an adoption agency, and later adopted by a loving family in Virginia who was told Emily and Sean were given up for adoption.
The trip to Chile is now helping Emily make sense of her life in a way it never has before.
"I went through all the range of emotions. You know, the anger went away," Emily said. "I was just relieved to be there with her to hug her for the first time."
The trip was made possible by Tyler Graf, a Houston firefighter, also stolen at birth in Chile, who reunited with his birth mother and started a non-profit called Connecting Roots.
Graf is now using DNA testing to help the thousands of people who were stolen at birth during the regime of Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet in the 1970s and 80s meet their birth mothers.
Emily says doctors told her birth mother, Sara Melgarejo, that she and Sean were stillborn.
"She was never able to hold us and so she never got to embrace us," Emily said.
Emily explained that while in Chile she and her brother and Sara had time to bond. They cooked together in Sara's kitchen, traveled to different parts of Chile, and had several days to get to know each other.
"This has made her whole again," Emily said. "She had lost something and she couldn't figure out what it was until she found out that what she was missing was us."
Emily's husband Adam also made the trip to South America and sees how the trip was life-changing for Emily.
"I've never seen her as happy," said Adam Reid. "She's definitely changed, it's definitely opened or unlocked or filled a void."
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