Dominic’s goal to find mum
Former footballer Dominic Matteo is searching for his birth mother on ITV’s Long Lost Family. JANE HAASE finds out more
WHEN former Premier League footballer Dominic Matteo suffered a rare, cancerous brain tumour, it compelled him to find his birth mother.
“I was fighting for my life this time last year….I was just thinking about meeting my birth mother,” says the 46-year-old who will be a familiar face to fans of Liverpool, Sunderland, Leeds United, Blackburn Rovers and Stoke City. “When you’re close to your life being over, it becomes more important.”
After a miraculous recovery, and with the help of his wife Jess, Dominic began his search and contacted ITV’s Long Lost Family which helps reunite relatives.
He was told he was adopted when he was a child but says he didn’t quite believe it at first.
He recalls: “It was a very slow process for me to take it in. And I was maybe a little bit in denial.”
Until now, Dominic has never spoken about his adoption.
He says: “I’ve kept it quiet because it’s very, very personal to me,” but his life-threatening illness made him realise what’s important and his family are all fully supportive of his search. “We’ve been talking to the kids about my adoption, and they know we’re looking for my birth mother... I want to find her because I want to make sure she’s alright.” Dominic’s story will feature in the first episode of the new series, presented by Davina McCall and Nicky Campbell. Davina says: “Dominic and his family are such warm, wonderful people. He really has been through so much, as has his wife. Family is everything to him. But at the heart of it he just wants to make sure his birth mother is alright.” The second search of the show features Lisa Phillips who was told she was adopted at the age of seven, but it was on her wedding day in 1992 that it really hit home there was one person absent.
Lisa says: “It was a big traditional white wedding. All day my heart was aching because my birth mother wasn’t there.”
As an adult, Lisa accessed her adoption file and found out her birth mother’s name, and some details about what she looked like.
She gained comfort discovering where she had inherited her physical appearance from: “I was thinking I’ve got something in common; it was wonderful... I loved reading it.”
But Lisa didn’t pursue a search because she didn’t want to hurt her adoptive father, who was scared of losing her. Lisa explains: “My mum was always: ‘I know there’s going to be a day when you will want to find out more about your birth history.’ But you’d try and mention it with my dad and he would get upset.”
Now, with her adoptive father poorly with dementia, Lisa feels that time is running out; she wants her adoptive parents to meet her birth mother and she would love to share her life with all of them for as long as she can.
Lisa says: “I can’t leave it any longer. I need that connection. I want that connection. I need her sat opposite me. I need – ‘I’ll hold your hand and I am not letting go of you’.”