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More than 20 years ago, Luverne’s Tammy Makram set out to find her birth family, turning to social media and genetic testing as ways to expand her search.
Within the last four months, she’s found her parents, eight siblings and more cousins than she dreamed possible.
Her renewed search began on Jan. 30, 2015, when she made a video for unsolved.com.
In the 2-minute, 20-second YouTube video, Makram explained that at 10 days old she was left at the doorstep of Millers Hospital in St. Paul on Christmas Eve 1961, a story she learned about more than two decades ago.
“In my mind there has to be more than one person who knows what happened that night,” she said in a Feb. 19, 2015, Star Herald interview.
Adopted by Stan and Gert Wessels of Ellsworth as an infant, Makram grew up happy and healthy but always wanted to know more about her family roots.
A viewer of unsolved.com suggested Makram submit a DNA sample to ancestry.com for any possible matches.
It was that genetic sample that unlocked the mystery. A match revealed a full sister, who already found another sibling and five half siblings on another DNA testing site called 23andme.com.
Makram regularly communicates with her two biological sisters (one older and one younger than Makram) who live in Tallahassee, Florida, and Champaign, Illinois, respectively.
It was her younger sister, Liz, who arranged for Makram to meet their birth parents, who are now married to each other and live in Tuscan, Arizona.
The normally exuberant Makram spoke quietly about the first meeting with the now 87-year-old couple.
It was a different kind of experience than meeting the newly discovered siblings.
Each shared pictures and stories about themselves but neither parent revealed the reasons behind Makram and her two sisters being raised by separate adopted families in Minnesota.
Her mom is especially quiet, Makram said. “I think it was something she had to put out of her mind to keep her sanity.”
Both physical and mental frailty, as well as more than 50 years of denial, have possibly led her mother into believing the births never happened.
Her father was more talkative but added a little insight by asking the question, “Why would she, if she (Makram) had such a supportive and nurturing adopted family, want to find them (the birth parents)?”
Makram said she believes events happen for a reason and assured her parents that she wasn’t looking to replace her adopted parents. She wanted to thank them for giving her up for adoption because of the wonderful family she grew up in and still has a good relationship with. She also told her birth parents she wasn’t mad at them for abandoning her as an infant.
“It was a very good question for me to think about,” Makram said.
She is still interested in finding more family members and eventually the reason why her mother gave her up.
“We talk on the phone occasionally,” Makram said. “She finds talking on the phone easier than talking in person.”
As she waits, Makram and her newly found siblings, especially younger sibling Liz, communicate regularly.
The two have shared their story of similar abandonments (four years apart) and the finding of each other with other local and national media outlets.
The duo want to give hope to other adopted children not to give up the search for their birth parents.
They also want to encourage adoption as an option to pregnant mothers who can’t keep their babies.
“The real cool thing about it (the search) is not only do I have additional siblings, nieces, nephews and cousins … they are as excited as me to be a part of this big family,” Makram said.
“Four months ago I didn’t know any other person and now I ended up with this entire family.”