Canadian Sisters Reunite After Half a Century

“Trish Verrier’s entire body shakes like a thin branch caught in a strong breeze as she hands over a photo of her and her sister, who she met for the first time two weeks ago.

“If I died tomorrow, I would be totally at peace now,” says the critically ill Verrier, referring to the two-day reunion she shared with Margaret Martin, 59, on June 30 and July 1 in Vancouver.

“Now I truly believe in miracles.”

Verrier, 60, first made contact with Martin in 2000 after Martin discovered she had a blood disorder and was told she should notify her next of kin.

Martin — who lives in Thunder Bay, Ont. — said she used an adoption agency to notify her siblings, but originally did not want to be in touch directly. However, she eventually reached out to a number of them, including Verrier.

“I have found it so rewarding and fulfilling,” Martin said in a telephone interview on Friday.

The two have become very close since then, although only through telephone calls until recently. Martin also sends Verrier calling cards to help her keep in touch, contributes money to Verrier’s monthly food expenses and even sends Verrier a box full of presents every Christmas.

“To feel the love — it’s truly amazing — I am just so, so thankful,” gushes Verrier, who cannot say enough good things about her sister.

“She is just a wonderful, wonderful woman.”

Despite their connection, health issues and financial constraints prevented the two from meeting face-to-face. However, when Verrier was placed in a medical coma in February because her body was shutting down so rapidly, Martin realized that time was running out. Although Verrier eventually stabilized and was brought out of the coma, Martin decided to visit.

Four months later, Martin and her husband travelled to Vancouver for the Canada Day weekend.

“I can now say I’ve experienced family, which I’ve never had,” Verrier says.

The sisters were infants when their birth mother was deemed incapable of looking after the two girls and their eight other siblings. Verrier says she was consequently adopted by an alcoholic man who turned her family life into a horror story.

“I was terrified to come home from school,” she says, describing how her adopted father molested and raped her from a young age. Verrier eventually left home as a teenager, but her independence was compromised because of learning disabilities and medical issues.

Verrier clutches her left-side in pain periodically as she describes her battles against cancer, Crohn’s disease, congestive health failure and pulmonary lung disorder, amongst many other problems. Although she tries to keep a smile on her face, the frail and tiny woman says she’s been admitted to the hospital more than 90 times since she was 19-years-old, and has undergone 14 emergency surgeries for bowel problems.

Verrier says her medical issues likely relate to poor nutrition when she was an infant — Martin also has health issues — but says the continuing stress she experiences as a result of her life as an adoptee probably contributes as well.

Although very conversational, Verrier falls silent for a moment when asked if she will ever see Martin again. Her voice cracks with emotion when she answers: “I don’t even know. Every day I’m lucky, because almost every couple days is … like my last breath, and it’s very scary.”

However, Verrier stresses that her story should be inspirational to those like her who have suffered greatly.

“If all I have is those two days, those two days have literally made up for the 60 years I’ve gone through,” she says, referring to the reunion with her sister.

Verrier says she also wants to remind those with families to not take what they have for granted.

“Say thank you and tell them you love them.”
Sisters separated by adoption reunite after half a century

[Times Colonist 7/14/12 by Kim Nursall]

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