Woman who was just THREE when her mum left her at a mate’s house and NEVER came back meets her older brother for the first time on Long Lost Family
A WOMAN who saw her mum for the last time when she abandoned her with a ‘vague acquaintance’ when she was just three has met the brother she didn’t know existed until she was 18.
Sonia Walsh and her younger sister Tammy were dumped by their mum in October 1967.
Although they were eventually adopted into the same family, Sonia has never been able to shake the need to find her biological mother.
"The hope for me is the hope that’s driven me all my life, is to find my mother," she said on TV show Long Lost Family.
"I’ve always wanted to be connected to her.
"I was very conscious that the family I was being brought up in actually wasn’t my family. I struggled to connect.
"I used to find myself sitting on a doorstep in various places where I lived and I always used to hope that my mum would come back.
"That’s where my heart was."
Sonia - whose sister couldn't be on the programme - accessed her adoption file when she was 18, which was as soon as she was allowed to.
Although it gave her some answers, it was a harrowing read.
"My mother came over from Ireland as a teenager, she was like a butterfly going from place to place trying to find some support," Sonia said.
"Her life appeared quite chaotic.
"It says she lived near Portobello Road, London, and was on the street. That was hard to read."
Even worse, Sonia discovered her mum had given up another child three years before she was born.
He was a boy called Patrick and was placed into care, then later adopted.
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"How could a mother do that? How could you have one, two and then a third child and effectively walk away from all three?" Sonia asked.
"I just wish that’d she’d left something for me to know why."
Nicky Campbell presents Long Lost Family alongside Davina McCall and discovered Sonia's mum went by two names, Maureen and Mary.
Her life was hard as her family from Waterford, Ireland, couldn't afford to keep her when she reached six.
That meant she was sent to live in one of the infamous Magdalene Laundries with nuns. It was a workhouse where kids had to earn their keep.
"How could she know what is needed as a mother to bring up a child when she just wasn’t shown it?" Sonia said.
"Not only was my mother’s childhood lost, so was mine, my sister’s and Patrick’s."
Although the show had no luck finding Sonia's mum, they did track down Patrick.
He was stunned to hear he had two sisters as he'd been told his mum had died when she had him.
Patrick became emotional when he was shown a photo of Sonia, and she was equally as emotional when she heard she'd be meeting her brother.
"This outcome has just had a massive change in me already, people close to me have said this weekend you seem a different person, that quickly," she said.
"It’s like something’s lifted. I felt a sense of peace, wholeness and satisfaction in a way I’ve never felt."
The pair met up in a London pub and struggled to contain their emotions.
Both beamed from ear to ear as they hugged, with an overcome Sonia saying: "I’ve thought about you since I was 18 and I think I’ve loved you since then."