Two women hired at same hospital became friends quickly - then they realised they were sisters separated 40 years ago in Korea

How likely is it that two people could work side by side, share meals, and form a friendship—only to discover they were actually long-lost sisters? That is something we only see in movies. However, for Holly Hoyle O’Brien and Meagan Hughes, this scenario became a reality. More than 40 years ago, the sisters were orphaned and sent to different homes, with no way of knowing what happened to each other, as per NBC News. O’Brien, born Pok-nam Shin, was five years old when her father died, leaving her in a South Korean orphanage before she was adopted by an American couple in Virginia, as per The Guardian. Hughes, whose Korean name was Eun-Sook, was taken by her mother from their father at a young age. 

She, too, ended up in an orphanage and was adopted by a family in New York. For decades, neither knew where the other was or if they would ever reconnect. Earlier this year, O’Brien was hired as a nursing assistant at a hospital in Sarasota, Florida. A few months later, Hughes joined the hospital, working the same shift on the same floor. They became fast friends, bonding over shared experiences. But then, the coincidences started piling up. Hughes said, "She actually trained me one day, and that's when we immediately clicked and started having a conversation about our backgrounds." 

During their lunches together, they talked about their pasts and learnt that both had grown up in orphanages, both had "abandonment" listed on their paperwork, and both had been adopted by American families. Hughes said, "I asked Holly what her last name was in Korea and she said Shin. And I said, 'Oh my gosh, that's also my last name too.'" It was enough to make them wonder whether they were related. To find out, O’Brien ordered DNA test kits from Canada. Both women sent in their samples, and in early August, the results came back. They were sisters. "I was speechless—numbness. I couldn't even begin to say what words come out because I was in shock," Hughes recalled.

O’Brien was just as overwhelmed. She said, "I was trembling and shaking, my husband had to literally hold me," as per Today. The sisters had spent decades wondering about the family they lost. Hughes said, "I've had questions—constant questions in the back of my mind. Do I have a sister? Do I have a mom or dad?" O’Brien added, "I knew back of my mind I had. She's somewhere out there, you know, and I never gave up on her." Now, after 40 years apart, they have finally found each other again. O’Brien noted, "I pray to God every day, 'Please find a sister.' And he did all the work." 

O’Brien and Hughes are not the only siblings who reunited after years apart. In another story, after disappearing without a trace in 1999, a man named Tommy was reunited with his family 25 years later, all because of a small but life-changing detail his sister noticed in a news article. She came across a USA Today story about an unidentified man in a Los Angeles County hospital who was unable to speak. Something about the image felt familiar, prompting her to contact the Lassen County Sheriff's Office. Authorities confirmed through fingerprint analysis that the hospitalized man was indeed Tommy. The Nor-Cal Alliance for the Missing shared the news, calling it a reunion "25 years in the making—a moment that brings light to the darkest of times."