Woman spent 15 years searching for her birth mother is stunned to discover that they had been co-workers her for 2 YEARS.

Stranger than fiction -

Jenny Thomas is one of 16 individuals featured on the new TLC series, Long Lost Family, which helps reunite people with their relatives
    This season the 40-year-old from Rochester, New York, learns that she worked with her biological mother Nita Valdez 10 years ago
    Jenny says that although they worked together at a Rochester hospital on a daily basis, their relationship was always a professional one

A woman who spent more than 15 years trying to find her birth mother




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Total disbelief: Jenny Thomas, 40, from Rochester, New York, couldn't believe that she unknowingly worked with her biological mom, Nita Valdez, for two years 

A woman who spent more than 15 years trying to find her birth mother has discovered that she unknowingly worked alongside her biological mom for two years, without any idea that they were related.

Jenny Thomas, 40, from Rochester, New York, is one of 16 individuals featured on the new TLC series, Long Lost Family, which helps reunite people with their biological relatives.

'I was just in shock,' she told the New York Post of realizing her former co-worker Nita Valdez is her birth mother. 'I had looked in so many faces for so many years, [thinking] "Could that be her? Is she looking at me because she knows me?"

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Unbelievable: This season on the TLC reality series, Long Lost Family, Jenny is given a photograph of her biological mother after searching for her for more than 15 years - and she realizes that she knows her  

'All the while I had looked at the woman who once knew me as her daughter.' 

Nita was the daughter of a minister who was ashamed by her pregnancy out of wedlock, and the expectant mom ended up being forced to give up her daughter to social services because of the lack of support she was getting from her family.

What Nita didn't realize however, is that her daughter would later spend years searching for the mother who gave her away as a child.  

However, after more than a decade of searching for Nita, Jenny only realized after the show's experts identified her that she had not only met her mother 10 years ago at a Rochester hospital, but that they had actually spent hours working together, when Jenny was employed as a part-time patient care technician.

Photo: TLC

Crazy coincidence: Ten years ago, Jenny and her biological mother Nita worked together on a daily basis at a Rochester hospital

Photo: TLC

Long time ago: Nita was the daughter of a minister who was ashamed by her pregnancy out of wedlock, and the expectant mom ended up giving Jenny to social services. Jenny is pictured now (right) and as a child (left)

During the time they worked together, Jenny and Nita, who was a patient transporter, interacted daily, and while they had a friendly 'working-professional relationship' she admitted she never felt any sort of instinctual connection to the woman who had given birth to her.

However, she noted that her birth mother would 'always laugh at my jokes'.  

Jenny's jaw-dropping story will be featured in an upcoming episode of the new series, which premieres on Sunday, and in a preview clip, Jenny can be seen looking at a picture of Nita that leaves her in shock. 

'Oh my god. I know her!' she says with disbelief as she stares down at the image. 

The show's hosts Chris Jacobs and Lisa Joyner have embarked on their own journeys to find their biological families, and this season the television personalities will help others do the same.  

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Experience: The show's hosts Lisa Joyner (left) and Chris Jacobs (right) have embarked on their own journeys to find their biological families, and this season the television personalities will help others do the same

Photo: TLC

Loving mother: Rita (pictured) was forced to place her baby boy up for adoption 31 years ago, but she made a vow to herself that she would try to find him again  

Photo: TLC

Memories: Rita has a shoebox filled with the last of her son's belongings before he was adopted, which she has held on to for more than three decades 

In a clip from Sunday night's episode, Lisa can be seen sitting down with a woman named Rita, a mother who was forced to place her baby boy up for adoption 31 years ago.

After she learned that she was expecting, Rita's boyfriend broke up with her, and her mother sent her to a home for pregnant young women out of fear of the scandal the pregnancy would create.

More than three decades ago, Rita made a promise that she would try and find the baby boy she had given up. 

'He wasn't given up because he wasn't wanted. He was wanted very much,' she says with emotion. 

Rita goes on to show Lisa a shoebox filled with the last of her son's belongings before he was adopted, which she has held on to for all of these years.   

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Never forget: Rita can be see showing Lisa her son's baby blanket, which she admitted she stole off a hospital cart 

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Always searching: 'For the longest time it had his smell on it,' she says, sniffing the blanket 

'This was his last little spit bib and blanket that he was wrapped in. I stole these off the cart,' she said with a sad laugh. I've saved these for all this time. This is what he was wrapped in. 

'You know, when I miss him, and I think about him, these have been really important to have,' she adds. 'For the longest time it had his smell on it.'

Rita says she has 'always' been searching for her son, but she has started to dedicate more and more time to find him because believes it is the right time.   

'Our children are older, and I just feel like life is settled right now,' she said. 'The timing just seemed right all the way around.'