Friends for 40 Years Discover Through DNA That They Are Sisters

Two women who had been friends since childhood discovered through a DNA test that they were actually biological sisters. Mina and Minal were adopted from an orphanage in India nearly 40 years ago and grew up in the Netherlands 100 miles apart. For years, both searched for answers about their biological families.

“When I see you, I feel as if I’ve come home,” 43-year-old Mina Geltink said during a joyful and emotional reunion with her sister.

Mina, a mother of three, said she had felt a void in her heart for years. “It’s as if a missing piece of the puzzle has finally been found,” she said.

They first met as friends

Mina and Minal met in 1996 at a gathering organized for adopted children. They felt an inexplicable closeness to each other. People around them noticed the resemblance between the two girls, while the girls jokingly called each other “sister.”

Later, they lost touch, and did not hear from each other for 15 years.

The truth emerged after 40 years

A MyHeritage DNA test taken in April 2025 changed everything. The results showed that they had a 100 percent kinship match .

Minal Thyssen, 44, who lives in France with her partner and two sons, initially could not believe the DNA results. She then found Mina through social media and realized that the girl she had met 30 years earlier was her biological sister.

Thyssen said she had been loved by her adoptive family, but had no information about her biological relatives. As a result, she had felt somewhat lonely throughout her life.

Now, the questions that had gone unanswered for years have finally been resolved: they were not friends who had met by chance in childhood, but biological sisters.