Man, 56, who wrongly thought he’d been abandoned on the street as a baby meets his sister who tells him he was ‘loved’ and that their mother only put him up for adoption because she was struggling financially
- Father-of-three Martin, 56, has spent the last 20 years in the South of France
- Told by his adopted parents that he was ‘abandoned on the streets’ as a baby
- But found he was actually officially given up for adoption by his birth mother
- Sister Teleena was in her 30s when she found out about Martin and was eager to find him with the help of Long Lost Family
This is the emotional moment a man who believed he’d never find any relatives after being wrongly told he was a foundling was reunited with his older sister on Long Lost Family.
Martin, 56, who has spent the last 20 years living in the South of France after growing up in Britain, was told by his adopted parents that he was ‘abandoned on the streets’ as a baby.
However, on tonight’s ITV programme, he discovered that he was actually officially given up for adoption by his birth mother, who knew she couldn’t afford to care for him after already struggling to feed and keep her six other children warm.
His biological mother tried to keep his birth a secret, but when his sister Teleena was in her 30s she was told about Martin by her dying older sibling and was eager to find him.
Teleena, 57, recruited the help of the Long Lost Family team, who discovered Martin, called Matthew at birth, in France, and the two siblings were reunited in touching scenes on this evening’s show.
Martin (pictured reuniting with his sister), 56, who has spent the last 20 years living in the South of France after growing up in Britain, was told by his adopted parents that he was ‘abandoned on the streets’ as a baby
However, on tonight’s ITV programme, he discovered that he was actually officially given up for adoption by his birth mother (left, pictured with his youngest sister), who knew she couldn’t afford to care for him after already struggling to feed and keep her six other children warm
Retired nurse Teleena grew up on the south coast in a single parent family with her mother Valerie and five older siblings.
‘Looking back, I think she did an amazing job… She was lovely and fun and always tried to do the best for us… We might not have had a lot financially but we had love,’ Teleena said.
‘When I was young, times were hard. Mum, being a single parent with six children, she didn’t have any support. She didn’t have a man, there was never a fatherly figure growing up.
‘It was so cold one winter, Mum couldn’t afford the coal so she chopped the piano up for firewood’, she recalled.
However, when Teleena was in her 30s she realised she didn’t know her mother quite as well as she thought. One of her sisters was dying and told her of a younger brother called Matthew.
‘Mum had a baby… a baby boy… a year or two after me,’ explained Teleena – but it was only after her mother’s death that she found hard evidence of her brother’s existence.
His biological mother tried to keep his birth a secret, but when his sister Teleena (pictured) was in her 30s she was told about Martin by her dying older sibling and was eager to find him
‘I was going through my late mother’s possessions and that’s when I found the hospital card… “Christian name, Matthew Clive Darren. Date 14th March 1966”. I thought, “oh my god, it is true”‘, recalled Teleena.
‘He does exist. At that point, I knew for real, there’s definitely a brother,’ she added.
Not only did Teleena find her younger brother’s hospital card, she also found hidden photos of a baby.
Knowing for certain that her baby brother existed, Teleena was desperate to find Matthew.
She admitted that she wanted to ‘tell him that my mum would have loved him’ and that the only reason for giving him up would have been the family’s financial struggles.
Teleena, 57, recruited the help of the Long Lost Family team, who discovered Martin (pictured), called Matthew at birth, in France, and the two siblings were reunited in touching scenes on this evening’s show
The Long Lost Family team soon found Matthew, now called Martin, who was just as shocked as Teleena had been.
The father-of-three revealed: ‘It’s been a massive shock because everything I thought I might of known was not really true.
‘Because I always believed that I was a foundling and I always understood that I was abandoned on the street.’
He continued: ‘My mother was the best mother you could wish for. My father on the other hand isn’t worth spending any time talking about, my father would go away and then my mum was left to look after us on her own and we were poor.
‘When there was no money for the heating, she would go out and do extra work… [But] this has turned around everything that I thought were my origins.’
Martin was overjoyed to have a sister as well as many more siblings, nieces, and nephews and him and Teleena had an emotional first meeting together.
Teleena said: ‘I wanted to tell you that mum is a really lovely, kind woman and it wouldn’t have been easy for her and she would have had you adopted thinking that was the best possible case for you.’
Meanwhile, Martin said finding siblings ‘turned my life upside down’ and added: ‘I’m getting back something that I never knew I lost.’
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