Woman Switched at Birth Celebrates Christmas with Biological Mom: 'Nice Quality Time' (Exclusive)
Diane Bazella and biological mother Sherri Geerts celebrated Christmas early this year — and they got to do it together
Just two years ago, a Minnesota woman who was switched at birth and her biological mother spoke on the phone together for the first time. This year, they got to celebrate Christmas together.
Diane Bazella tells PEOPLE she visited Sherri Geerts in Sunnyvale, Calif., ahead of the December holiday, which holds a very special place in their hearts.
Geerts and Bazella first spoke on the phone together on Christmas Day 2021, shortly after Geerts’ husband of 62 years died.
Since then, they've remained in contact and Bazella has visited Geerts several times. And this year, the bonded duo wanted to do something special for Christmas.
The two had lots of fun planned for the trip, from making holiday candies to attending holiday luncheons and parties. Bazella also sent a box of Christmas gifts to Geerts' home before the trip — and had her open them before she returned home earlier this week.
Bazella tells PEOPLE the pair got to spend "some nice quality time together."
Bazella and Geerts have even found ways to continue celebrating together, despite the fact that they'll be thousands of miles apart for the actual holiday. Geerts sent a box of gifts to Minnesota for Bazella and her two children, which they will open together on Christmas Eve.
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Before the pair met, Bazella was confident that she would one day meet her biological mother. At age 5, she learned she was adopted, and quickly became interested in finding her mom.
In 1983, Bazella tracked down what she believed was her original birth certificate. The woman listed as her birth mother died in 2000 of cancer.
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But in 2017, Bazella took a DNA test only to realize the names on her genealogy report did not match any of her known relatives.
After spending the next four years reaching out to people on the rest report, Bazella decided to circle back to one of the women who was listed as a close DNA match. When she explained that she had a hunch they shared the same biological father, the woman confronted her father about it and he confessed that he'd fathered another daughter in 1960 with a woman no longer in his life.
Although Bazella was momentarily stumped by the news, then it hit her.
“All of a sudden I realized everything I’d believed for all those years was wrong," she previously told PEOPLE. “I’d been switched at birth with another baby at the hospital."
In 2021, Bazella learned that her real biological mother was still alive — and was even able to speak with her for the first time. Nine months later, she and Geerts met in person for the first time.
Now, the pair regularly keep in touch. They email each other once a day and rarely talk on the phone for less than five hours at a time.
“We’re definitely making up for lost time,” Geerts told PEOPLE. “I never gave up hope that I’d find her someday.”
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