Woman abandoned in pram as a baby with a heartbreaking note from her impoverished mother finally meets her real siblings after 55 years

Daily Mail​

2 days ago

A woman who was discovered at just a few hours old in another baby's pram outside a health clinic has found her birth siblings after 55 years of separation.
In May 1969, Lisa Dyke, 55, who now lives in France, was found as a newborn in Dorset, Christchurch, with a note pinned to her from her birth mother, reading, 'Please take care of her.
'I cannot and never will be able to give her a good home where she will be happy. She is just born and needs a doctor.'
Fortunately, Lisa went on to have a happy childhood with her adoptive family in Hampshire. However, she understandably longed for answers regarding her heritage and sought the help of ITV 's Long Lost Family: Born Without a Trace team and hosts Davina McCall and Nicky Campbell.
'My story started the day I was found,' Lisa said, adding, 'What I need to know now is what happened before. Why was I left in another child's pram? Who left me? I assume it was my birth mother. I just want to know the truth.'
In her quest for answers, Lisa revisited the site of the clinic where her birth mother put her to try and understand how she might have felt at the time.
She said, 'I feel that she must have been local to have known about the clinic. I'm trying to think how she might've been feeling, waiting to see somebody leave their pram outside and take that opportunity to put me in there – just waiting for that perfect moment so that I would be found quickly.'
In an emotional episode, which airs on Wednesday at 9pm, Lisa discovered through DNA testing that though her birth parents have sadly died, she has three siblings, who did not initially know of her existence but are now eager to welcome her into the family.
Lisa accessed her adoption file in 2005, which is when she learned of the note and who placed her in another child's pram.
'To have the original note means so much to me, because it's the one thing I've got that connects me to her… It takes the negativity of abandonment away because I know she cared,' Lisa said.
Lisa's adoptive parents Sylvia and Brian raised her Hampshire, where she had her son, Ryan, as a single mother at the aged of 19. 'I could not have wanted better parents. My mum was just everything,' Lisa said.
Lisa's close bond with Sylvia put her search for answers about her birth family on the backburner.
However, in 2023, Sylvia sadly died. Lisa's loss led her to decide that it was time to turn to DNA testing to discover information about her past.
Lisa said, 'Having Ryan at a young age made me reflect on my circumstances. I've thought about who my birth mother was over the years, but because I had such a wonderful mum, I would just put it to one side. Unfortunately, we lost her two years ago.'
'I don't want to force myself into anybody else's lives, I just need to know what happened, I need to know who I am.'
Lisa's DNA led Long Lost Family's Ariel Bruce and her search team to find Lin, who they initially believed to be her half sibling. But after further testing, Ariel found their connection to be stronger - Lin is Lisa's full, younger sibling.
With this information, Ariel learned the identity of Lisa's birth parents, Christine and Brian.
Sadly, both of Lisa's birth parents have died. However, Lin revealed that Lisa has two other, full siblings - Tim and Jen, who are both older and grew up together with Lin in Christchurch, where Lisa was left.
'There's been this secret in the family that had to make them revise their perception of what their family was,' Ariel said of Lin, Tim, and Jen.
Learning of Lisa proved to be a difficult moment for the siblings, who had no idea that their parents had another child.
The discovery was especially challenging for Lin, given that she was born after Lisa but, unlike Lisa, grew up with her birth mother.
In an emotional moment, host Nicky Campbell showed the siblings a photograph of Lisa, and they immediately recognised physical similarities.
They told Nicky of their childhood, explaining that their parents relationship was fractious, but that their mother, whom they remember fondly, absolutely loved their father, who worked as a merchant seaman and drove lorries. He left when Lin was seven.
Money was tight during their childhood, and their mother juggled three jobs to provide for her children. Their financial circumstances led the siblings to worry that social services would intervene at any given point.
After Lisa learned of her parent's death off camera, Davina travelled to check up on her and tell her the extraordinary news that she has three siblings.
Discussing her sadness at the news regarding her parents, Lisa said, 'I half expected that kind of news. But hearing it, it still shakes you a little.'
She also expressed her surprise about her birth family structure. Initially, she thought her birth mother might have been young and forced to conceal her birth.
However, Davina informed her that she was 25 and in a relationship with her birth father at the time.
The surprised continued when Davina told Lisa of her siblings - Tim born in 1967, Jen born in 1968, and Lin born in 1972, three years after Lisa's birth in 1969.
'A younger sister. It's, I'm trying to process it. I feel like I've gone from having nobody to now having three full siblings, all very similar ages,' Lisa said.
Davina told Lisa of her sibling's memory that there was always a fear of social services coming around to take them away during their childhood.
'I can start to see perhaps now what the picture was…to understand why she felt that she couldn't keep me if he wasn't always there,' she said.
Lisa said, '55 years ago, I was left as a foundling. I never, ever thought I'd find out anything about my birth family. I never anticipated finding a full sibling, let alone three.'
After Davina's chat with Lisa, the four, full siblings finally met, with Lin, Jen, and Tim, all keen to welcome Lisa into the family.
Lisa put the others at ease with kind words about her birth mother. 'Whatever your mum did, she the right thing for me. She made sure that I was found very early, and I thank her for that.'
After the heartwarming meet, Lisa added, 'I feel like I've gone from having nobody to having three siblings all very similar ages.'