LANSING, Mich. – Lizzie Shaltz knew she was adopted, knew her birth mother had opted for a closed adoption and didn’t start searching for her biological family until she was diagnosed with cancer.
Shaltz survived but other illnesses came up.
“Honestly, the only reason I was looking was health reasons. I was tired of getting all these ailments,” she said.
She decided to send a DNA sample through MyHeritage. When distant DNA matches started popping up, she initially didn’t think anything of it and didn’t check to site to see that a sibling match came up.
Her sister reached out to her on Facebook, and Shaltz found her, a brother, aunts and cousins -- all them from her father’s side.
Shaltz birth father died in 2008 and had no idea she existed.
She learned she had been living about an hour away from them for most of her life.
“I just can’t believe that I have another chapter of my life out here. It’s just another book to add to my story,” she said.
Shaltz still has no information of her biological mother but will be watching DNA matches more closely in the future.
More: Michigan news