2 sisters are abandoned at birth. 43 years later, they learn of the other’s existence
Donna Massie Wysong was abandoned at birth, and throughout her life, she felt alone with so many questions that were nearly impossible to answer. All she knew about her biological past was that she was left to die on a sidewalk in Norfolk, VA, wrapped in a dirty towel with a red yarn around her navel before being discovered and adopted into a warm and loving home.
For a long time, she felt no need to find her biological family because her adoptive parents were so great. Eventually, she did run into some questions and felt it was time to come clean and look for some answers. She turned to the people at the local ABC news station to get some help, and after they ran their first piece on her extraordinary story, a good samaritan decided to offer help.
Angela Trammel, a genealogical investigator with Kin Finder Group, decided to give her a biological DNA test and help her find her family members, free of charge. It took Wysong a little while to jump on the opportunity, but eventually, she decided to take the test.
For a while, no real interesting information seemed to come up except that she was genetically 50% Irish. No information about her family, living or otherwise, seemed to come up.
Then on St. Patrick’s Day, she got some exciting information.
Angela Trammel managed to find a match, a fully biological sister, who had also been abandoned 11 months after Wysong had.
Trammel explained- “A full-blooded, biological sister. Eleven months younger; an Irish twin, so to speak.”
Amazed by the information, although initially wary, the two began to talk on Facebook, texting, and video chats.
Vanessa Smiley, Wysong’s sister, explains that initially, she was scared.
“I saw that this woman (Wysong) had hired a private investigator, and I didn’t know if she was going to show up at my house and I’ve got kids,” Smiley worried. “I thought I’d better talk to her and tell her not to come.”
That train of thought quickly dissipated when they began to chat, and soon, they decided to meet in Washington D.C. They also decided to try to contact their mother, and Smiley managed to talk to her on the phone. It didn’t go as well as Smiley and Wysong’s encounters.
While Wysong aimed to thank her mother and was prepared to forgive her, Smiley was looking for facts and information. What she got was something a lot less pleasant.
Their biological mother explained that she had been beaten by their father and that their father was never aware of that fact that his two daughters existed. The conversation went south from there, and at one point, Smiley claimed to have said, “I’m not the one who put a baby in a box.”
Her mother’s response? “You put yourself in a box.”
The morning of their flight, their mother threatened to sue them if they contacted her again.
In an interview with ABC 7/WJLA, the sisters explained further about what they thought of their mother.
“Because if anything I want to be a good wife and mama, and I don’t want to be thought of like this person,” explained Smiley, while Wysong took their mother’s reaction a little harder.
“She doesn’t care about us,” said Wysong through tears. “So, no, she’ll never get to meet us.”
A short while later, they found out that they had a biological brother, however, he was not abandoned and had lived with their biological mother. On the last weekend of April, they all met and introduced their respective families to one another. An aunt came as well, and the sisters immediately bonded with her.
Wysong and Smiley have since announced that they are both moving to Virginia Beach together, uprooting their life as well as their families to start a new chapter in their lives. While not everything is perfect, they’re learning that together, they can conquer anything.
Source: ABC WJLA