Two half-sisters have met in person for the first time after a DNA test connected them.

Debbie Walsh of Nova Scotia was adopted as a child and spent years searching for her biological siblings, to no avail. She eventually decided to submit her DNA to Ancestry.ca, where the results indicated back in February that she was related to Michele Gibson, who lives in Ottawa.

The two connected on Facebook and eventually spoke on the phone, which culminated in an emotional meeting on Thursday after Walsh arrived in Ottawa.

“We were both in shock, we didn’t know what to say,” Walsh told CTV Ottawa of that first phone call. “We've been like BFFs ever since.”

The half-sisters, who share the same father, say they’ve discovered several eerie similarities between them, including their fondness for the colour blue and the way they eat onion rings.

“We just eat the batter and leave the onion,” Walsh said. “It's the quirky little things.”

Gibson said meeting her half-sister came at the perfect time as her only other sibling lives in Vancouver.

“I do believe that everything in life happens for a reason,” she said.

Both women are now in their 50s, married with children and hope to one day bring the two families together.