Mom Reunited With Daughter 49 Years After Birth Hospital Said The Baby Died

Forty-nine years ago, Melanie Diane Gilmore was born prematurely to gospel singer Zella Price and her husband in a St Louis hospital. Zella was told her daughter had died just after hours after being born, but the truth was that Melanie had survived. However, she was kidnapped or stolen and then adopted to another family. Yesterday, through the efforts of Melanie's children, the mother and daughter were reunited amidst tears of joy!

Melanie's daughter, Melika Jackson, and her siblings knew how much their mother wished to find her bilogical family and so with a name from her adopted family, they were finally able to trace Zella Price on Facebook. After some misteps, and following 100 questions and answers and a DNA test, it was confirmed that Zella was the biological mother of Melanie. The two women met first via online chat, and then with a little help via GofundMe, they were able to meet in person. Check out the video and full story below...

For the past 49 years, my mother, Melanie Diane Gilmore (Jackson) has been suffering with the absence of a mother and my grandmother, Zella Jackson-Price, from the absence of her daughter. On November 25th, 1965 a beautiful, premature miracle was born in St. Louis, MO at Homer G. Phillips Hospital (the first hospital in St. Louis to bore African-American children).

My grandmother bore a baby girl and was told that her daughter had died within the first five hours of being born due to her being premature, so my grandmother was never able to see her daughter. Unfortunately, the people affiliated with the birth of my grandmother’s child had underestimated my mother’s will to live and decided to perform an unlawful act which involved the kidnapping of a child. Someone unlawfully covered up a kidnapping for 49 years from a mother who loves her children dearly.

In August 2014, an attempt was made by Melanie’s children to begin the search of their grandmother, Zella Jackson-Price, by contacting her family members via Facebook message but there was not enough evidence to prove Zella had a daughter named Melanie so this search was discontinued until February 20th, 2015. On this day, one of Melanie’s daughters messaged Zella with questions regarding to having a daughter in 1965. Zella messaged back with questions, answers, and facts of birthing a baby girl.

In order to prove that Zella and Melanie were biologically related to one another, a dna test had to be performed. Melanie and Zella took a paternity test by swabbing each others mouths and sending it off to the DNA Diagnostic Center. A few days after the swab tests were sent to the center, the results came back. The results had stated that Zella Jackson-Price was the mother of Melanie Diane Gilmore (Jackson) and it was a 99.9997% match.

On March 8th, 2015 Melanie’s children decided to break the news to their mother by surprising her with the paternity results and an oovoo conversation with her biological mother and family. A video was posted on facebook, here is the link: https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=... to show her reaction to her children finding her mother. It would be greatly appreciated if you could donate to this cause and help reunite Melanie and her family.

Thank you,
Melanie’s Children