Olivette Mother Reunited With Daughter 50 Years After Being Told She Was Dead

A mother from Olivette, Missouri, has been reunited with her daughter 50 years after being told that she’d died.

Forty-nine years ago, 76-year-old Zella Jackson Price was told that her prematurely born daughter had died just a few hours after she had given birth to her.

However, on Thursday, this proved to very much not be the case, as she was emotionally reunited with Melanie Diane Gilmore at Price’s home in Olivette.

But how did this both tragic and heartfelt story unfold? Well, it starts at St. Louis’ Homer G. Phillips Hospital, where Melanie was adopted to another family instead of being reunited with her mother. It’s still not known how this grievous oversight was made.

While her daughter was laying in the hospital alive, Price, who at the time was 27, was being told that her recently-born child had died.

Discussing her reunion with her daughter, Price admitted that she is still overcome with pain at having missed out on such a long period of her daughter’s life. However, she is now just still grateful to have finally been reunited with her.

“(God) has given me everything the devil has taken from me. I’m getting it back. I’m getting my baby back,” Price declared.

It was Gilmore’s insistence that she meet her biological mother that resulted in the pair being reunited. Price has lived most of her life believing that her daughter had died, just like she’d been told.

Gilmore, who lost her hearing as a child because of illness, used Facebook to try and locate Jackson-Price, and she was able to track her down thanks to the last name that her adoptive parents gave her.

Alongside her children, Gilmore found Price, and then last month they held a Skype chat. You can check out a clip of their first meeting since Price gave birth to Gilmore below.

The above video was uploaded by Melika Jackson, the daughter of Melanie Diane Gilmore, nee Jackson. Melika uploaded an emotional description of her mother’s plight, which you read over at their YouTube page.

In order to prove that they were biologically related, both Zella and Melanie underwent DNA tests. These swabs ultimately proved that Melanie Diane Gilmore was the daughter of Zella Jackson-Price. In fact, the evidence was so overwhelming that there was a 99.9997 percent match.

An investigation into how these two were separated is now underway, but at the moment, both Gilmore and Price are simply relieved to be back together.

In fact, Gilmore was so overjoyed at their reunion that she exclaimed, “I am just so happy… very excited.”

[Image via LocalTVKTVI]