Abandoned Sisters Find Brother After Decades
Sisters from the Uysky District of Chelyabinsk Region became the heroines of the show «DNA» on NTV. Nadezhda Pobedinskaya and Vera Bitkulova wanted to confirm kinship with a brother whose existence they had been told about quite recently. Back in childhood, both girls were abandoned by their mother, so no one knew about the birth of another younger child. The project«s creators helped not only with the testing but also with finding the mother.
«Of course, I don«t remember my mother,» admitted the older sister Vera Bitkulova. «From my father»s words... He said she left when I was two. Then after some time she returned (I don«t even know when) — already pregnant with my sister. Dad accepted her, forgave her. They lived together for a while. Then she gave birth to Nadya. From my father»s words, she ran away from the maternity hospital again. And my father brought my sister home.»
After that, according to the sisters, the mother returned to the family several times and left again. She disappeared completely when the youngest, Nadya, was seven months old. Vera«s father kept both girls in the family, but because of problems with his wife, something inside him »broke«.
— «He started being cruel to me,» admitted Nadezhda. «He would chain me up, let«s put it that way. He would leave for three or four days, come back drunk.»
— «What? What do you mean? He chained up a child?» — the show«s host asked again.
— «I don«t know. I can»t answer that question,» Nadezhda cried. «He would attach the chain to the bed, put an empty metal pot. He could disappear for three or four days. I remember being hungry.»
According to the sisters, neighbors knew about their situation and tried to help — they brought food for four-year-old Nadya when her father was away, but were afraid to contradict him directly. Older Vera didn«t know anything; at that time she had been taken in by her grandmother. Then everything came to light, and Nadezhda ended up in an orphanage.
The sisters kept in touch. Over time they learned that their father had died and their mother lived in another region. Then Vera and Nadya accidentally found out they also had a younger brother. A friend of their mother sent them an old photo of her holding a little boy. They started investigating who it was. It turned out to be Valery. The young man had also been through orphanages and knew nothing about his family. Nadezhda managed to find her brother through social media; he didn«t even suspect he had relatives.
«He called me first himself,» Vera Bitkulova recounted. «I picked up the phone, and he said, «Hello, little sister.» I said, «Who is this?» He said, «It»s your brother. Valera.« I was speechless. I must have been silent on the phone for about 15 minutes.»
Valery is now 35, Nadezhda is 38, Vera is 41. They came to the program to confirm their kinship with a DNA test.
«I didn«t believe it at first,» admitted Valery Lyskin. «I still don»t... If it turns out to be true, then that would be great! Because all my life I«ve just been alone.»
The brother and sisters were able to meet for the first time during the recording of the program. The show«s creators also invited their biological mother.
«I wanted three — Vera, Nadezhda, and Lyubov (Love), but Vera, Nadya, and Valera were born,» said Tatyana Vydrina. «My husband and I lived well at first. But then our relationship... became bad. He raised his hands against me, drank, and emotionally abused me.»
In the end, Tatyana was married twice, but never stayed with any of her children. The story of the family from Chelyabinsk Region was told on NTV over two days. The DNA test results turned out positive.
