BUFFALO, N.Y. — Two sisters, both raised in Buffalo, met for the first time in more than 50 years. Maryam Boone was adopted at just 3-years-old. She didn't find out until she was 19. Now, she's reunited with her birth family after nearly a 20-year long search.
"I feel so happy and overwhelmed. Knowing her has filled a void that I had inside of me for so long," Boone said.
"My heart is just so warm right now. My mom did pass away, so this to me is just like her just being an angel in heaven," Tamera Lamb, Boone's birth sister, said.
Boone started looking for her family back in 2003.
"It started in 2003 when I registered with the adoption registry. I didn't hear anything until 2012 when I received a narrative about my adoption and my family, but nothing identifiable," Boone said.
In 2019, she submitted her DNA to 23 and Me. In January 2021, Boone received her original birth certificate learning her original name for the first time.
In March 2021, Boone matched with her uncle on 23 and Me, only to learn her birth family had been searching for her the entire time.
"We did look for her too. This is before you had the 23 and me and ancestry and all those tracing things. I'm just so happy that she did that," Lamb said.
"To find out that I was actually looked for, that I was actually wanted, that I was actually loved... As I said, it just filled a hole in my heart. It's just the best thing," Boone said.
Although they spent their entire lives apart, the sisters said you'd never know, from having the same college degree to the same phone.
"We're just going to keep our family bonding and really really get to know each other. We love her," Lamb said.
Olivia Proia at WKBW first reported this story.
