A woman has been desperately trying to find the daughter she gave up for adoption after being diagnosed with cancer.
Growing up in Blackpool in the 1970s, Charlotte Barnish admits she was a rebellious teenager and regularly clashed with her mother.
However, when she was 16, Charlotte found out she was pregnant.
Terrified to tell her parents, she ran away, but after she was reported as a missing person, police took her back home, where it was discovered she was about to welcome a baby.
Soon after her parents made Charlotte a ward of the court, she gave birth to daughter whom she called Tracey, named after a song she loved by The Cufflinks.
Initially told she could get her daughter adopted by a couple who were ‘willing to pay’, Charlotte pushed back and refused, but was then placed into a home for teenage mothers.
Although she was able to live with her daughter there, Charlotte described the home as a ‘horrible place’ that felt like a ‘prison’.
She eventually decided that to be able to leave, she would have to give her daughter up.
On the last day she saw Tracey, Charlotte was given a single photo of her daughter, which she kept on her mantlepiece for decades after.
But after being diagnosed with bowel cancer in recent years, Charlotte turned to the team behind Long Lost Family to help track down her first-born.
Although the 66-year-old held fears that her daughter might ‘hate’ her and hold resentment for being given up, she was desperate to find out what had happened.
After her mother’s request for help to find Tracey, researchers located her.
Now named Sarah Tomlinson, she was living in Lancashire, just 40 miles away from her birth mother.
When discovering her mother had been trying to find her, Sarah revealed she regularly visited Blackpool and considered the chance she might have unknowingly met her mother, who works in one of the cafes along the seafront, in recent years.
On the day Charlotte is told by host Davina McCall her daughter would like to meet, she also reveals the news that hours earlier, she was given the all clear after undergoing cancer treatment.
Their reunion will be shown in tonight’s episode of the ITV series, which will also tell the story of Glasgow-based Jenna, who is searching for her sperm donor biological father.
Long Lost Family airs Mondays at 9pm on ITV1.
Got a story?
If you’ve got a celebrity story, video or pictures get in touch with the Metro.co.uk entertainment team by emailing us [email protected], calling 020 3615 2145 or by visiting our Submit Stuff page – we’d love to hear from you.
MORE : All the stars rumoured for I’m A Celebrity 2024 including Tommy Fury after shock split
MORE : Gangster drama so good entire country downed tools to watch it now available
MORE : This Morning viewers admit they find money-saving segment ‘very patronising’
