Kennedy Wilson’s dad had no idea she even existed when she shocked him with the reveal she was the result of a one-night stand in a lorry nearly 30 years ago.
The 29-year-old had wondered about her dad’s identity for her whole life, feeling ‘a bit different’ at school when most of her pals had ‘both parents’.
“My mam was always very hesitant to tell me anything [about my dad],” the Newcastle woman explained.
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“I think she tried to convince herself that I had come from a loving relationship. I think she was a bit embarrassed that it happened from a one-night stand.”
Kennedy grew up feeling as though ‘there was something missing’ in her life before she found out the truth as a teen.
She says her mum, Claire, tried to track down the mystery lorry driver when she learned she was pregnant but apparently was told he was getting married so gave up.
After Claire’s death in 2014, the woman felt more determined to track down the man.
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“I thought it would be impossible because she was the only one that had the information that could help,” Kennedy said.
“I knew it was something to do with an electricity lorry, my mam believed he had a Yorkshire accent and I put together the time of year I would've been conceived and I knew they met on a night out in Whitley Bay.”
Countless appeals online proved unsuccessful so she decided to try an Ancestry DNA test in April last year. Marking a turning point, this revealed a cousin match on her dad’s side, narrowing it down to just two men.
Kennedy contacted one of those and her details about him matched; a semi-retired lorry driver from Pontefract, Alan Websdale.
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“I left a voicemail to say 'I might be your daughter' and didn't hear anything. I text him as well to say I believed I could be his daughter,” she explained.
“Part of me prepared myself for him maybe not wanting a relationship with me. He replied that evening to say he was shocked. He said as soon as he heard about the lorry in Whitley Bay, he knew. He had no idea I even existed.
“He'd never heard anything from my mam after that night so in his eyes it was done.”
Understandably, the 57-year-old was pretty shocked to discover he had a daughter and described it as the ‘strangest feeling’.
He claims Claire had told him she’d took the morning after pill and so he was ‘oblivious to it all’.
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“I thought the world had fallen out my backside. It was the strangest feeling. I had no idea she even existed. I didn't want her to feel mad at me,” Alan said.
“I'm probably not the first lorry driver to do something like this. You just don't expect 29 years later for someone to come looking for you.”
After chatting over the phone, the pair decided to meet in September where conversation eventually ‘flowed’ and the dad described his daughter as the ‘spitting image of his sister’.
“I'd always known that my dad was out there somewhere,” Kennedy added.
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“If you're thinking of doing your own journey, don't wait. I wasted eight years pondering whether I should do it or not and I wish I did it a lot sooner. Everyone deserves answers.”
And Alan said it feels like they’ve known each other ‘for ages’.
“It's like I've gained something I never knew I had,” he added.
Jess Battison