After years spent unknowingly searching for their father, two long lost sisters discovered each other in the process.

Lisa Mclean and Rebecca Parton independently searched for their biological father, David Riggs, and stumbled across the knowledge that they had both also been missing a sister.

While the details of why the sisters became separated and did not know of each other’s existence has yet to be revealed, 33-year-old Lisa of Nottingham, England, began searching for David when she was 18. At this point it had been 9 years since he had disappeared out of her life.

24-year-old Rebecca from Doncaster, England, had never known her father and began her search for him after her mother died of cancer at age 37.

Both women knew they were searching for a ‘David Riggs,’ and Rebecca’s grandmother, Sue Parton, contacted Lisa though Facebook after seeing a post by Lisa. Sue told Lisa she believed that Rebecca and Lisa were searching for the same David Riggs.

After meeting each other in 2016 and confirming through a DNA test that they were indeed sisters, the women began making up for lost time and have established a strong sisterly bond, with Rebecca even serving as a bridesmaid in Lisa wedding last year.

Lisa (L) and Rebecca (R) at Rebecca’s wedding in 2019

The pair joined forces in 2016 and continued the search for their father.

Finally, after decades of searching independently and four years of searching together, Lisa received a Facebook friend request one day from a man named David Riggs.

David, who had also been searching for his daughters for several years, finally got a break when he saw the women’s appeal online.

He tells the Daily Mail, “I was searching for the girls for quite a number of years on and off. They were always on my mind and in my heart. As the years passed and I was getting older I was trying to find them but every time I was trying it seemed to backfire as though my world was just falling apart.

‘I feel for the last 20 or 30 years I was out walking around without a heart. I only found them by chance as I went on my phone and saw these two ladies online looking for their dad. I didn’t recognize them.’

‘They could have walked past me in the street and I wouldn’t have known. I scrolled down and saw my picture and thought wow why am I online?’

‘When I read it all I broke down in tears.’

‘I then found them on Facebook, they had changed their names and it was difficult to recognize them but I took a chance and the first person I rang was Lisa.”

After establishing that he was indeed their father, the trio set up a date to meet in person, and on December 6^th, the 53-year-old from Blackpool set out for Lisa’s home to meet his daughters for the first time in over 20 years. He also got to meet his grandchildren for the very first time and has enthusiastically jumped into his new role as granddad.

Rebecca (L) and Lisa (R) meeting their father David on December 6th for the first time.

They are all now looking forward to spending their very first Christmas together as a family, and making up for all the years spent without each other.