49 years later, mother reunited with daughter she thought had died in childbirth

11 Apr, 2015 by Rachel Alexander

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Sometimes, an awful incident has a good ending. That good ending may just not happen for a very, very long time. This mom discovered she had a daughter 49 years later, and the reunification is heartwarming.

The Daily Mail reports,

A Missouri family has bee reunited 49 years after a mother was falsely told her daughter had died at the hospital just hours after being born.

For the first time, Zella Jackson Price, 76, and Melanie Diane Gilmore, 49, met in-person at Price’s Olivette home.

When Price gave birth at Homer G. Phillips Hospital so many years ago, she was told shortly after delivery that the infant had died. But Gilmore was alive and for an unknown reason adopted by another family.

‘I’m so elated. I’m just hugging her and there’s such a big family. She didn’t know she had so many people here in St. Louis,’ she said.
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Her foster parents have since died, but Price said it was heartwarming to know that she grew up in a good home.
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When the mother and daughter finally came face-to-face, they hugged for several moments and said they loved each other.

‘There was a bond that automatically started when we saw each other,’ Price said.

She added that she has been hurt by the separation and is relieved to have a new start.

‘(God) has given me everything the devil has taken from me,’ Price, an accomplished gospel singer, told KTVI. ‘I’m getting it back. I’m getting my baby back.’

The family will be launching an investigation into what happened at the hospital, and have hired an attorney. Watch the incredible moment as mother and daughter meet each other for the first time, caught on video below.