For 37 years, Krista Brian thought she was Hispanic and that her father had killed himself when she was an infant.
Her life was turned upside down when she sent a DNA swab to Ancestry.com for testing.
“I was shocked to find out I was African-American,” Brian told Channel 9.
The website put her in touch with a possible relative based on her results, and she and Orlando resident Andrew Baker connected.
“I knew her mom in high school, then we got together after high school,” Baker said. “It was just a brief thing.”
The two submitted DNA for testing at an independent lab in December and found that they weren’t just related; they were father and daughter.
Baker never knew that Brian existed and she was told by her aunt and uncle that her father was dead.
Brian doesn’t know why her mother never told Baker that he had a daughter, but said: “When my mom had me, she had a nervous breakdown.”
Finding her father was something she never thought would happen.
“That was in December,” she said. “It was the best Christmas present I could have ever had.”
Brian, who lives in California, visited Florida in January and started making up for lost time with trips to Disney and Universal Studios.
She was also able to meet four siblings whom she never knew she had.
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