Viral Facebook photo helps reunite woman with long-lost mother

When Stacey Lee was two years old, she and her two brothers went to live with their father.

Lee, now 23, hadn’t seen her mother, Brenda Drake, in the two decades that followed — until a viral Facebook post helped reunite the women.

After years of trying to locate her long-lost mother, the British woman took her boyfriend’s advice and took a photo of herself holding up a cardboard sign of her mother’s information on it and posted it on Facebook.

The sign read:

"Looking for my birth mother Brenda Elizabeth Davies. (May have another name) Born in Leyland. Had me in Manchester General 21st Oct. 1991. I also have 2 other brothers from my mum. If you have anything please contact me."

The photo was shared more than 100,000 times.

Within a day, a women claiming to be Lee’s cousin contacted her and put her in touch with Drake.

“When I clicked on my mum’s Facebook profile I couldn’t believe it – she looked just like me!’ Lee told the Daily Mail.

“I sent her a message and told her that I had missed her and that I wanted to build a relationship with her. She sent me her phone number and I called her. I was shaking as I dialed the number and I just sat staring at the phone for 15 minutes before I made the call.”

When Lee did finally make the call, both women cried tears of joy over the phone.

"It’s so nice seeing Stacey’s face while she on the phone to her mum. Sooo happy you found her after all this time, well done babe I love you!!" Lee’s boyfriend, Martin Smith, wrote on Facebook.

Lee quickly learned that her mother had remarried, changed her surname from Davies to Drake, and had four more children.

The day after first making contact, mother and daughter met in person at a pub in Lancashire. Lee also met her half-sister, 19-year-old Shannon, for the first time.

"I went to meet her in a pub and when I saw her, I just hugged her and we both cried," Lee said of the reunion with her mother, according to a release from Cavendish Press. “We were in shock. It was very emotional. We look a lot like each other and I am quite shy and quiet like her.”

Drake said she’s just thrilled to rekindle a relationship she feared was over.

"I regret losing contact with my three eldest children. I thought about them a lot, especially at times like Christmas,” Drake said.

“I tried looking for them but I always came to a dead end,” she added.

"When I received the Facebook message from Stacey I 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. We’re all looking forward to the future and I am going to be reunited with my two sons Stuart and Steven too.”