'I no longer feel like an orphan...I'm the happiest person alive': 81-year-old woman who found birth mother
Irish woman Eileen Macken has tracked down her birth mother following a 61-year search that began when she was just 19.
The 81-year-old rang into Liveline a year ago and was very upset about her plight to find her biological mother.
Following the broadcast, a genealogist contacted Eileen and worked alongside her for over a year to help her in her search.
He helped her find her 103-year-old birth mother who is living 'across the water'. They found her three weeks ago, and Eileen has since seen one old photograph of her mother, taken some years ago. However, more than anything, she would like to see her mother face-to-face.
Speaking to Joe Duffy, Eileen said: "When I got the word she was alive, Joe, all I wanted to do was meet her...I spoke to her on the phone but she couldn't hear me. Bit like myself, Joe, I've only one good ear."
I'd love to go on a big mountain and scream it out to everybody, now I'm not an orphan anymore.
Eileen also said that with the help of her cousins, she hopes to meet her birth mother for her children, so they would know "who their grandmother was, their grandpeople, and their great-great grandpeople".
