wellnessfitproMeena Geltink and Minal Tijssen learned they are related through a MyHeritage DNA test
:max_bytes(150000):strip_icc():format(jpeg)/dna-sisters-81326-b4a2ecb23dab45efb66dff8957bb1ab5.jpg "Indian-born women Meena Geltink, 43, and Minal Tijssen, 44, adopted separately as babies and raised near each other in the Netherlands, pose for a photo after a DNA test revealed they were biological sisters, in 's-Hertogenbosch, Netherlands, August 11, 2026")
Credit: REUTERS/Marta Fiorin
NEED TO KNOW
- Two women who were childhood friends learned 40 years later that they are actually sisters
- Meena Geltink and Minal Tijssen found out they are related through a MyHeritage DNA test
- The women were left at orphanages in India when they were infants, and they later grew up with different adoptive families in the Netherlands
Two women’s close bond is actually a lot closer than they initially realized.
Meena Geltink and Minal Tijssen were left at orphanages in India when they were infants, and they later grew up with different adoptive families in the Netherlands, NBC News reported.
In 1996, when they were teenagers living only 100 miles apart, Meena and Minal attended an event for adopted children, and they stayed in touch. They would even jokingly refer to each other as “sis” in their correspondence to one another, according to NBC News.
The pair eventually lost touch for 15 years, but after they both recently took a MyHeritage DNA test, Meena, now 43, and Minal, now 44, learned that they were 100% a biological match.
NEED TO KNOW
Never miss a story — sign up for PEOPLE’s free daily newsletter to stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer, from celebrity news to compelling human interest stories.
“For years, I felt a hole in my heart. [Now] It’s like a missing puzzle piece has been found,” Geltink, a mother of three, told NBC News of learning Tijssen is her sister.
During an emotional reunion in the Netherlands on Aug. 11, Geltink told her older sibling, “When I see you, it’s like I’m home.”
Tijssen — who lives in France with her partner and two sons, per NBC News — said of herself and Geltink, “We were friends before we were sisters.”
“We were sisters the whole time, but we didn’t know,” she added. “Now it’s for real.”
According to Tijssen, it first clicked that she and Geltink were related when she found her sibling on social media and looked at photographs of her.
The sisters now spend hours every day talking and messaging, per NBC News.
#Women #Left #Orphanages #Childhood #Friends #Years #Learned #Theyre #Biological #Sisters
