It was a homecoming 27 years in the making.
A newborn Precious Bradley was left on a daycare doorstep in Greensboro, North Carolina with zero clues or idea of who her biological parents were. All that changed after a night of genealogical digging at the North Carolina A&T library.
“I found my mom and dad!” she exclaimed.
Precious Bradely, 27, used a DNA test to confirm the identities of her birth parents. (WFMY / video screenshot)
Bradley, 27, recently got a hit on Ancestry.com that led to her father, which then led her to her mother, WFMY News reported. The young woman said the shocking discovery left her with tons of questions, like why her parents decided to leave her on a doorstep.
“I definitely think this was a cry for help,” Bradley, who was later adopted, told the station. “[My birth mother] did what she felt was the best option that she had and at the end of the day, I’m perfectly fine with that option because I’m able to live because of her.”
Through DNA testing, she was able to confirm with certainty who her birth parents were. It turns out they’d been living in North Carolina all these years; her father in Greensboro and her mom closer to Raleigh. Now that they’re reunited, Bradley said she’s taking baby steps in getting to know the strangers with whom she shares a biological bond.
“This isn’t something that you just go out there and do,” she said.
Without the help of friends and her community, Bradley said tracking down her parents would have been nearly impossible. According to WFMY, the NC A&T alumna was flooded with donations after making her story known. The DNA tests, which can range anywhere from $69 to $344, her genealogist and everything else was free of charge, and Bradley said she hopes to repay that by encouraging others to find their biological relatives.
The person she has to thank most of all is Pam Tomkins, who found the newborn baby girl abandoned on the doorstep of her daycare on January 18, 1991. Tomkins said at first she didn’t realize what or who she had stumbled upon.
“I’m like what is that? Is that an animal or did somebody leave a cat or what?” she recalled.
After realizing it was a baby, however, Tomkins quickly called for help.
“She’s my savior,” Bradley said. “She saved me. Anything could have happened to me in a box.”
Bradley reconnected with Tomkins around the time she went to college after reading her name in an old news article she found. The two had never met in person until earlier this year, according to the news station.
Tomkins said it was shortly after she discovered Bradley that she and her husband decided they wanted to foster. And just like that, their family increased ten-fold.
“We have 10,” she said, referring to all of her children. “Nine adopted and one biological. How crazy is that?”
Bradley said she believes Tomkins is her “guardian angel.”
Watch more in the clip below.
