Two women adopted from India as babies and raised just miles apart in the Netherlands discovered after 40 years that childhood friends from a 1996 adoption gathering are biological sisters. A MyHeritage DNA test in April yielded a rare 100% match, uniting the pair in an emotional reunion.
Childhood connections often fade across decades, but for Meena Geltink and Minal Tijssen, a casual meeting as teenagers turned out to be the prologue to a family history they never knew they shared. Left as infants at orphanages in India, both women grew up in separate adoptive families in the Netherlands just a short drive apart.
Neither had any record of birth relatives. Yet their paths crossed as teenagers in 1996 at a gathering for adopted children while living just 100 miles (130 km) apart. Their friends were amazed by their likeness and the girls swapped addresses. In correspondence, they jokingly called each other ‘sis’ before losing touch for 15 years.
The DNA Test and the Revelation in April
The accidental friendship transformed into a biological certainty in April when a consumer DNA test upended what both women knew about their origins. Minal Tijssen, 44, who lives in France with her partner and two sons, was sitting on the couch in April when a pop-up on her phone said her DNA results were in. Tijssen said she had no record of any birth relatives. She felt loved growing up with Dutch parents and siblings, but at the same time described a deep loneliness.
“‘Mina: Sister.’ I couldn’t believe it.”
The platform returned a rare 100% match, confirming they were biological sisters. At first, Tijssen didn’t realise it was the same teenage girl who had clung to her when they first met 30 years ago. It only sank in when she found her on social media and looked at photos. Now it's for real,
she noted.
While Tijssen described growing up with loving Dutch parents and siblings, she also acknowledged a persistent, underlying sense of isolation. Meena Geltink, 43, a mother of three, expressed a similar lifelong sentiment, struggling to put words to her overwhelming feeling of joy.
An Emotional Reunion in the Netherlands
The sisters finally met in person following the discovery, gathering in ‘s-Hertogenbosch, Netherlands on August 11, 2026 for a reunion marked by tears, hugs, and laughter, followed by their first selfie together. Geltink captured the weight of the moment during their meeting on Tuesday, telling her sister directly.
“When I see you, it’s like I’m home.”
Since discovering their relationship through the MyHeritage DNA test, the sisters spend hours every day talking and messaging.
“We were friends before we were sisters. We were sisters the whole time, but we didn’t know.”
The reporting on the reunion was led by journalists Anthony Deutsch and Marta Fiorin with editing by Janet Lawrence under the Thomson Reuters Trust Principles. The two sisters continue to spend hours every day talking and messaging as they navigate the emotional journey of reconnecting after spending so many years apart.
