FORT WORTH, Texas — Raymond Turner was at work when he got a notification from 23andMe that his DNA test results were ready.
Turner, the producer at Cook Children’s Sparklefly Recording Studio, said he couldn’t wait to see the results and find out which African countries his family was from. But when he got home and opened the app that day in March, the first thing that caught his eye was the name Christina Sadberry and the words “half sister.”
“So my first reaction, I thought this whole thing is just a joke,” Turner said. “They messed it up.”
He immediately reached out to Sadberry over 23andMe, but didn’t get a response.
Turner, who was raised by his grandparents, had no idea Sadberry existed. Sadberry grew up with adoptive parents and had given up hope of finding her biological family. The 23andMe test results and a Cook Children’s connection finally brought the siblings together.
The man in the red shirt at Cook Children’s
In 2015 Turner moved to the Fort Worth area from Houston, a move he initially didn’t want to make because it meant leaving lifelong friends and family. In December of that year he started his job at the Cook Children’s recording studio, helping patients and their families express themselves through music.
In April 2015, Sadberry’s youngest son, Bryson, was diagnosed with a rare kidney disorder. Over the next seven years Sadbury regularly brought him to Cook Children’s for treatment.
About a week after Turner got his test results, Sadberry and her husband accompanied Bryson to Cook Children’s for another appointment. They stopped to see a Lego replica of the hospital and looked into the recording studio across the hall, something they did every visit. This time they saw Turner through the window, dressed in a red shirt.
“That was the very first time in seven years that we had seen anybody in that studio at all,” Sadberry said.
A few hours later she saw a Facebook message from Turner’s wife, Maria, informing her about the DNA match. She remembered the man in the red shirt.
“I checked on Raymond’s [Facebook] page and saw that he worked for Cook Children’s,” Sadberry said. “And I was like ‘There’s no way in the world that this is who we probably just walked past.’ And sure enough, it was.”
‘A miracle’
For Sadberry, finding Turner was the culmination of more than 15 years of searching for her biological family. She met her birth mother in 2006, but couldn’t get any information about her father or whether she had siblings.
She eventually got on 23andMe, hoping to find some link to her biological family, but without success. After a while she sent the 23andMe emails to spam and quit logging in.
Sadberry described the experience as “surreal.”
“When I actually found out about Raymond, that’s when my youngest son was given a clean bill of health,” she said. “So Cook’s definitely served its purpose.”
Courtney Rawls, one of Turner’s coworkers, said he was shocked when Turner shared the 23andMe test results with him.
“That was exciting for all of us, and you know it’s been like a TV series,” Rawls said. “Or like, you know, we’re waiting on the season finale right now.”
Turner and Sadberry met for the first time on March 25 in the atrium of Cook Children’s. Sadberry said there was an “instant connection.”
Rawls said when he met Sadberry he teased Turner about the family resemblance.
“We were all masked up, of course, but, you know, when I saw her I was like, ‘Dude, you guys got the same forehead and eyes, so yeah, that’s your sister,’” Rawls said. “And, wow, I mean, it was pretty good. I’m happy for ‘em.”
The two siblings laugh about their similarities. Sadberry was born in Brenham, about 20 miles from Hempstead where Taylor grew up. They have the same favorite ice cream, Blue Bell Buttered Pecan. And both of them share a severe intolerance to cold.
Sadberry said their children even look alike, especially 11-year-old Bryson and Turner’s 10-year-old son Elijah.
Sadberry, who is active reserve with the U.S. Air Force, was transferred to the Destin-Fort Walton Beach area of Florida in July, but she said she’s thankful for the time she and Turner spent together. Now they FaceTime and call each other on the phone. Sadberry laughingly said she would like to own a Kona Ice truck one day and sell snow cones on the beach with Turner.
Turner said their family has witnessed a miracle.
“For me, it’s the heart of God to see reconciliation,” Turner said. “And you know, for me also to know that the links — that all the things that had to happen leading up to that. And even that day for her to see me there, you know, it’s no accident.”
