Grace Novak learns she was adopted. Now, she will meet with her siblings for the first time

What started out as a hunch, uncovered a secret over 50 years later. Now, a Port Charlotte woman who did not know she was adopted, will soon meet siblings she never knew existed.

Grace Novak grew up in a big New York Italian family. But she told WINK News she always joked about being different from everyone else. “I always asked, ‘hey, how come I’m not blonde like my brother?'”

Enter Mike, who, when she started dating him, showed her a photo that led to the realization that she was adopted.

Grace’s aunt handed her a piece of paper with a few words scribbled on the back and four photos of her birth parents, a brother and a sister.

Grace and Mike did not look for them until late this summer when doctors told Grace she had genetic heart disease. “We had no idea about her family history,” Mike said. “So it scared me enough that I said, ‘ok. I’m gonna go online and see what I can find out.'”

Instead of using Facebook, Mike used the online White Pages. Lots of trial and error led him to find Grace’s brother and sister. “He sent a picture of Grace’s sister,” Mike said. “Yeah, I get emotional.”

“She’s identical to me,” Grace said. “She loves music, she loves to sing, I mean everything about her is kind of just so bizarre where it’s like looking in a mirror.”

Family history helped doctors treat Grace. Now, she looks forward to enjoying her newfound family. Grace plans to go to Philadelphia with Mike in December to meet her sister and half-brother.

“My thing is never to give up,” she said. “Never give up in looking for whomever you’re looking for because you never know.”

“Right,” Mike said. “And pay the extra $5 on white pages!”