'My favourite story of the year from Limerick is...'

SOME stories stop you in your tracks. A Limerick mum being reunited with her son after 53 years was one such tale.

It also shows how much has changed in society in such a short timespan.

Mark Balls, now 53, was adopted as a baby and raised by his loving adoptive parents in London. 

He was told at the age of 10 that he was adopted – but, out of respect for the man and woman who raised him, he chose not to pursue his biological family until after his adoptive parents had died.

Mark asked for his daughters’ help in finding his birth mother for his 50th birthday. They gave him a gift of a MyHeritage DNA test which would ultimately set him on a path that would finally see him connect with his Limerick family.

Mark  received an email to say that Phyllis O’Neill was his mother – and that he had two  brothers in Limerick - Jason and James. Five weeks after receiving the news, Mark travelled to Ballysheedy to meet his long-lost  family, originally from Fedamore, in July.

“It was unbelievable. I was taken in straight away and accepted as one of the family. It was like a missing piece of a jigsaw, it felt so natural and like we had always known each other,” said Mark.

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Phyllis  was 18 and living in Hampstead, London when she gave birth to him. Fearing judgement over the situation which was common at the time, she kept the pregnancy secret and gave him up for adoption to an Irish family who lived less than 30 minutes away.

She and Mark's father, Pat, later married and had two more children - Jason and James.

I spoke to Phyllis and Jason and they were the nicest people imaginable.

Phyllis said Mark was on her and husband Pat’s minds all their lives “even though we kept it to ourselves”.

“I just wish that his dad was there to meet him. He was definitely looking down on us,” said Phyllis.