In London, an 81-year-old Irish woman, Eileen Macken has been reunited with her centinarian mother, Elizabeth for the first time after searching for her for over 60 years, according to a media report on 10 May, Friday.
Macken grew up in a Bethany Home orphanage in Dublin and had never met her birth mother.
She started searching when she was 19 and in 2018 she contacted Ireland's RTE's Liveline to appeal for help to find her mother.
Earlier this year, a genealogist had called to say that he had tracked her down in Scotland.
“Once I heard that, nothing would stop me trying to get to see her.”Eileen Macken
She travelled to Scotland last month and finally met her mother, Elizabeth, who will be 104 on 11 May, Saturday, the BBC reported.
‘She is the Most Beautiful Lady’
“I went over to see her and she's the most beautiful lady, lovely family, they gave me a great welcome,” she told RTE's Liveline programme.
“We came in and, honestly I haven't got over the acceptance that I got. They accepted me and I had a great chat with my mother,” said Macken.
Macken said that Elizabeth was reading the newspaper when she saw her. She said that she told her that she was from Ireland and she said, “I was born in Ireland.”
“I said: ‘You know I’m your daughter’ and she just looked up at me and she took my hand.”
She continued, "I think it's nearly gone past her, but there was such a bond between the two of us. It was fantastic." Makcen, a mother of three, also discovered she has two half brothers. She said she did not think she would "ever come down out of the cloud" after meeting her mother.
She said that she was always adamant that she should find her mother and never gave up the search.
‘Happier Than She Could’ve Imagined’
She added that the meeting had made her happier than she could have imagined.
She said, "We had three days of wonderful happiness that I've never ever had before. I don't think I've done any work in the house [since she came back], I'm that happy. I'm going around singing.”
"You've no idea what it's done to me, I'm just so happy," said Macken.
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