Woman takes DNA test as a joke only to discover secret half-brother

2022-08-24

Woman, 52, takes DNA test for a joke after laughing that she was ‘nothing like’ her family – only to discover she had a half-brother she knew nothing about

Farrah Khilji-Holmes joked she must have been switched at birth due to her looks
The 52-year-old took a DNA test only to find she had a half-brother in Canada
Her sibling, Steve Bolton, was adopted by a Canadian family after his mum died
The pair share the same father, Dr Mohammed Elijaz Khilji, who died in 1998

A woman who took a DNA test for a laugh after joking she was ‘nothing like’ her family was shocked to find she had a half-brother she knew nothing about.

Farrah Khilji-Holmes, from Pontefract, West Yorkshire, ribbed relatives by saying she was switched at birth as there was ‘no way I could be part of such a bizarre family’.

To take the joke even further, the 52-year-old took a DNA test along with her mother – with the result saying she was a match with someone who was her first cousin or closer.

After doing some digging online she connected with a man called Steve Bolton, 62, who turned out to be her half-brother despite living in Canada.

The pair had the same dad, Dr Mohammad Elijaz Khilji, but different mums, and didn’t even know each other existed until they sent their DNA tests off and they matched.

Farrah reached out to Steve when his name came back as a match and when they spoke on a video call, she said it was ‘like seeing her dad in the flesh’.

Now, after chatting for 18 months over video calls and WhatsApp messages, Steve flew to meet Farrah and her relatives for the first time in her hometown.

Farrah Khilji-Holmes was shocked to find she had a half-brother, Steve Bolton, living across the Atlantic. Pictured: Farrah and Steve at Beaumont Park in Huddersfield after meeting for the first time this month

The pair are the children of Dr Mohammad Elijaz Khilji, who did not become aware that Steve was his son before his death in 1998. Pictured: Farrah and Dr Khilji before his passing

Farrah said: ‘I only logged on as a joke to see if I was switched at birth. It’s been a bit of a running joke in our family for years.

‘I always said I must have been swapped at birth because there’s no way I could be part of such a bizarre family.

‘So I did a DNA test as a joke and made my mum do one too. She’s my mum, there’s no doubt about that.

‘But it came back with a close match to a man that it said was a first cousin or closer, but it couldn’t be sure because there was a wide range.

‘I was sat in the pub when a message came through from Steve about 18 months ago and I shouted out “I’ve got a brother!”

‘It’s absolutely like seeing dad in the flesh. My friends who have seen him say he’s the spitting image of dad.’

Dr Khilji had a relationship with Steve’s mum Pamela in London in the 1960s before returning to Pakistan without knowing she was pregnant with his child.

Tragically, Pamela died when Steve was just seven and Dr Khilji died in 1998 having never learnt that he had another son.

In the meantime, he fathered children in Pakistan and when he returned to the UK, he had two children from a relationship with Sue Burton, Farrah and her sister Zarah.

Farrah also had three other half-siblings which she knew about about as she grew up, but she never knew about Steve until her DNA test results came back.

Farrah added: ‘I sent the information to my mum and she filled in the gaps, she said Steve is most likely my half-brother.’

Dr Khilji had a relationship with Steve’s mum Pamela in London in the 1960s before returning to Pakistan not knowing she was pregnant. Pictured: A photo of Dr Khilji when he was younger

‘My dad had me and my sister with my mum. My dad looked after all his children and if he’d known he had another child, we’d have known about it.

‘Dad was a big part of all our lives, if he’d known about Steve, he would have ensured he was part of our family too.

‘He took an active role in all his children’s lives and there is no way dad would have seen any of his children taken into care.’

Steve was born in London and he didn’t know anything about his dad other than his nickname and that he had connections to Karachi.

After his mum died of Pneumonia, Steve spent time in a orphanage before his grandparents took him to Jamaica where his mum was born.

Steve was adopted by a Canadian family when he was child after his mother died and his grandmother got sick. Pictured: Steve when he was six years old in Brighton

But when his grandmother got sick, he was placed back in an orphanage in Jamaica before being adopted by a Canadian family and he lived in Toronto from the age of 13.

He said that after his adopted mum died he got his birth certificate and started looking for his dad.

Two years ago, he set about researching his family history and sent off a DNA sample that returned a couple of cousins.

But was about to give up when he got a message from Farrah out of the blue to ask if he was her brother.

While in the UK, Steve visited his father’s grave before meeting up with Farrah, which he said was ‘really emotional’.

Steve says he doesn’t know how to process the fact he has entire family of half-siblings across the pond. Pictured: Farrah and Steve sitting on a bench at Beaumont Park in Huddersfield

Steve said: ‘After you’ve been waiting for so long it’s hard to believe it’s happened.

‘It’s completely surreal, I didn’t know how to process it.’

‘As I got older, a friend helped me get my English birth certificate. My wife did all the research and got me to go on Ancestry.com.

‘I got a couple of hits from cousins, but I was about to cancel my membership when Farrah messaged.

‘She reached out to say I think you’re my half-brother and started asking questions about dad.

‘When she sent me a picture of dad, I showed it to one of my aunties on my mum’s side and she said: ‘that’s the bugger’.

‘I hope this encourages other people who have been adopted to do their research because it’s really amazing.’

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