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A pair of women who worked together 30 years ago discover they are half-sisters. Cheryl Becker and Linda Rinaldi met more than three decades ago when they both worked for a Connecticut hospital. They became friends through that job, but lost contact when Rinaldi moved away. So when Becker’s husband gave her an ancestry DNA kit as a gift and she matched with a woman named Linda Rinaldi, she immediately recognized her old friend.
"It said I was closely related to this person Linda Rinaldi," Becker says. "I said to my husband, 'I used to work with Linda Rinaldi.' I could tell it was the same person. It just said 'closely related or first cousin.'" She texted Rinaldi right away. "She said we were related, that's all she told me," Rinaldi recalls. "I said, 'Wouldn't it be funny if we were sisters?' And she says, 'I know you're my sister.'"
A second DNA test confirmed their suspicions. Becker and Rinaldi were half-sisters who shared the same father and were born 16 months apart. "This is a blessing," Becker says after meeting up with her sister after the discovery. "The fact that she welcomed me with open arms. She just welcomed me. And I think that was the turning point for me." Now the sisters plan to make up for lost time. "We lost the last 30 years, but we got the next 30," Becker says. "We have to make memories like sisters do."