At 5 p.m., while diligently sweeping the street in Ha Dong Ward, Mrs. La Thi Hong (an environmental worker living in Hanoi) received a special call from GENTIS informing her that the DNA test results confirmed a mother-child biological relationship between her and the girl Léa living in France.
Tears streamed down the weathered face of a woman who has lived more than half her life burdened by the guilt of abandoning her newborn daughter. Looking at the numbers on the DNA test report, Mrs. Hong could hardly believe it was true.
Since learning about her daughter, Mrs. Hong had been anxious and sleepless, waiting for the day of the DNA test. “After 31 years, I feel relieved knowing that my abandoned daughter is living a happy life in Europe. I sincerely thank Dan Tri newspaper for bringing me the greatest happiness in my life,” Mrs. Hong shared.
Previously, Léa had sent samples of her hair and fingernails to Vietnam for the DNA test. On the morning of October 17, Mrs. Hong went to the GENTIS testing center in Hanoi to have her blood sample taken to verify the biological relationship with the girl whose information matched her story.
The Ending After 31 Years of Torment
In June, Mrs. Hong contacted Dan Tri to ask for help finding her daughter, who had been adopted to France.
In 1992, Mrs. Hong fell in love with a young man from a neighboring village. After a year of dating, she found herself unexpectedly pregnant. However, the young man coldly denied responsibility.
After many sleepless nights filled with tears, she decided to keep the baby and raise the child alone, despite the village gossip. On January 2, 1994, the baby girl was born and named La Thi Hong Hanh. Being a single mother with difficult circumstances, Mrs. Hong left her daughter at an orphanage in Soc Sơn.
A few months later, filled with regret, she returned to find her child but was told by the caretaker that the baby had been adopted by a family in France. Mrs. Hong sadly returned to her hometown, carrying the burden of guilt for more than 30 years.
“Back then, having a child out of wedlock was a serious issue in the village. If people were more open-minded like now, I would never have abandoned my daughter,” she said, choking with emotion.
After the article “The tragic life of a Hanoi mother, 31 years searching for her abandoned daughter” was published, Dan Tri reporters contacted several organizations in France to search for the girl La Thi Hong Hanh.
Thanks to their active efforts, within two weeks, Dan Tri found a young woman named Léa living in Montreuil — about 10 km from Paris — whose information matched the story Mrs. Hong described. “Looking at her photo, I noticed she has many facial features similar to mine. In the following days, I was anxious and restless, hoping the DNA test results would match,” she said.
Mrs. Hong shared that she did not expect the search to proceed so quickly. A few years ago, she had thought about finding her daughter but didn’t know where to start.
For many years, only her family and close friends knew she had given birth to a daughter before marrying her current husband. When the story was widely shared, most people sympathized with her. However, some neighbors expressed doubt about her conscience, which made her feel hurt.
Although Léa’s birth date and full name on the documents perfectly matched the story from 31 years ago, Mrs. Hong did not want to expect too much, having hoped before but ended up disappointed.
Mrs. Hong had her blood sample taken for DNA testing at the center.
Two years ago, a girl from France came to Mrs. Hong’s village looking for her biological mother. Upon hearing the news, Mrs. Hong took leave from work and hurried to Thanh Oai (Hanoi), firmly believing the reunion was near. However, after matching information, the girl was not La Thi Hong Hanh. “At that time, it felt like the world had collapsed. I had high hopes but ended up with a bitter disappointment. Still, over the years, I have kept the faith that one day I would meet my daughter again,” she said.
Since receiving the DNA test results, Mrs. Hong’s life has returned to normal. At night, she has trouble sleeping from overwhelming joy and excitement, eagerly waiting for the day to reunite with her daughter.
For 31 years, she has never had a full night’s sleep. The memory of leaving her daughter at the orphanage remains an unending regret. Fortunately, her husband has always understood and is willing to accompany her on the journey to find their daughter.
“I’m not searching for money or material things. I just want to know how she is living and hope my daughter will forgive my past mistakes,” she said.
Currently, Mrs. Hong lives with her husband in a small house on Chinh Kinh street, Hanoi. They have one daughter who is now married.
Her husband suffered a stroke when he was young, so the economic burden has long rested on her shoulders. Life is not wealthy, but Mrs. Hong actively does charity work, hoping to atone in some way for past mistakes.
“After receiving the test results, I hope to hold my daughter in my arms even once, that would be enough. Whether she forgives me or not, I am ready to accept,” she said.
No Resentment Over the Past
Two days after receiving the DNA test results sent by Dan Tri to France, Léa was still overwhelmed with emotion. For more than 30 years, she never imagined a day she would see her biological mother’s image.
“I want to meet my mother but need a little more time to believe this is not a dream,” Léa shared.
According to Léa, her adoptive parents took her from Hanoi back to Paris in 1994. From childhood, she grew up in a loving family in France, receiving full care both materially and emotionally. They never hid the fact that Léa was adopted.
“When I was little, I wished one day to reunite with my family in Vietnam but was afraid my birth mother wouldn’t want to meet me. Since I turned 30, I decided not to search for any information about my origins to avoid getting hurt,” she said.
Léa said she hopes to soon return to Vietnam to visit and meet her biological mother. She had traveled to Vietnam with her adoptive parents when she was 10 years old. To this day, beautiful memories of Hanoi, Ha Long Bay, and the Mekong Delta remain vivid in her mind.
“I would like to thank Dan Tri newspaper and GENTIS testing center for helping my mother and me find each other after many years apart. This is a major turning point in my life,” Léa said.
“A drop of blood is worth more than a pond of water” — this saying has never grown old. In the age of technology, finding lost relatives might seem impossible, but with science and humanity, nothing is impossible.
GENTIS is proud to accompany people on this journey — the journey of bringing people back to their families, reuniting children with their mothers, and bringing smiles back to faces that once bore the pain of separation.
Because above all, every DNA test is not just a result — it is an opportunity for love to be restored.
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