More than two decades after they were separated, Stacey Lee found her mother with the help of Facebook.
Daily Mail reports just 20 hours after the 23-year-old posted her smiling face alongside a handwritten sign explaining she was seeking her birth mother, Lee found a connection to her.
After Lee's parents' separation, her mother remarried, changed her last name and moved to Blackpool. Lee, meanwhile, was raised by her father and grandfather.
Mere days after the Facebook post, Lee and mom Brenda Drake (formerly Davies) shared a lifetime's worth of missed memories at a local pub.
The Runcorn, England woman was reportedly surprised to see how many similarities she shared with her mother, saying,
When I saw her I just hugged her and we both cried. We look a lot like each other and I am quite shy and quiet like her.
Lee credits her boyfriend, Martin Smith, for encouraging her not to give up on the search for her mother after eight years without any clues.
Lee's sign shared every detail she knew about Drake, including Lee's birthplace and information about her own two brothers.
The photo quickly spread across Facebook, receiving a reported 100,000 shares and reaching Kerianne Davies.
According to Daily Mail, Davies and Lee had been friends as children without ever realizing they were cousins. When Davies saw Lee's sign, the details perfectly matched her Aunt Brenda.
Drake told Daily Mail, "When I received the Facebook message from Stacey, I just couldn't believe it. She was so beautiful and I just couldn't wait to meet her."
"Stacey is so sweet and adorable and my other children were so pleased to find out they had an older sister."
