(WSVN) - After almost a lifetime of searching, an 81-year-old Irish woman has finally met her birth mother.
Eileen Macken grew up in an orphanage and had never met her birth mother. She initially began searching for her when she was 19, but her search was unsuccessful.
However, last year, she went on RTÉ Radio 1’s Liveline, and told her story. That’s when she was contacted by a genealogist, and she was finally able to track down her mother.
The woman was 103 and living in Scotland.
Macken traveled with her husband, her daughter and son-in-law to Scotland and finally got to meet the woman who gave birth to her and her half-brother.
“She was reading the newspaper and when she saw me, I said we were from Ireland, and she said, ‘I was born in Ireland,'” Macken told the radio station.
Macken said her mother was delighted and that she had a “great chat” during her three-day trip to Scotland.
“She was thrilled, and she never let go of my hand,” she said.
Macken’s mother will celebrate her 104th birthday this weekend.
Macken said since coming home, she has been ecstatic. “I don’t think I’ll ever come down out of the cloud,” she said.
Copyright 2024 Sunbeam Television Corp. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.