Oprah Winfrey has a lot to be thankful for these days, especially her nieces.

Oprah.com reported earlier this week that it was the talk show maven's niece, Alisha, who provided the DNA sample that confirmed the existence of Oprah's half-sister, Patricia.

Patricia sought out Alisha, who is the daughter of Oprah's deceased sister Pat, after reading a magazine article about her. As she set out to finish piecing together her past, she visited Alisha's Milwaukee-area restaurant and found familiar faces peering back at her from the walls. Patricia was reportedly overwhelmed by her close resemblance to Alisha's late mother.

"I am your mother's sister," Patricia told her niece. "At that time, I think she believed me, but she didn't understand, because she got very emotional," Patricia said.

It was Patricia's resemblance to her own late half-sister that convinced Alisha's husband, Tydus, that Patricia was indeed his Aunt.

"It was the way she spoke; it was the way she moved her hands; it was the expression that she made," Tydus said. "It was her laughter. It was her excitement, her joy."

"[There was] just something about her," Alisha said of her Aunt. "It just felt right."

Though Alisha felt strongly that Patricia was indeed her Aunt, she wanted to be absolutely certain. Patricia and her niece took a DNA test which proved an 85 percent match.

But even before the DNA test, Chrishaunda, Alisha's sister, heard about her newfound Aunt and saw a photo of her. "When I saw the picture ...I just knew that it was true," Chrishaunda said. "Before the [DNA] test, I just believed it was true."

Alisha was the first to reach out to her Auntie Oprah to prompt her to talk to her mother, Vernita Lee, about the news. Chrishaunda sent a second email. When Oprah called her neices, they told her only that she should talk to her mother. But Lee did not mention the existence of Patricia when the two spoke; - Lee earlier had refused contact with Patricia - it was a member of Oprah's staff who broke the news to her.
 
Chrishaunda sees her Auntie Patricia as carrying on some of the best parts of her late mother.

"I think that she has her own personality and her own gifts, but she, for me, is a constant reminder of the goodness that my mother represented, personified," she said. "My mother had a lot of demons that prevented her from being her best self. We know about that, but I feel like my mother speaks through [Patricia]."

Despite her birth mother's initial negative reaction to meeting Patricia, she says she now feels connected to a family. "I have my nephews and great nieces, and I have [Oprah]," she said.

Oprah's newfound niece, Aquarius, is overjoyed to have found "another half." "[It's] a miracle to know that we have a family, to know that we have someone that looks like us, to know that we have someone that may have the same mannerisms as we do," she said.

Oprah's new nephew, Andre, told his Auntie, "I felt really blessed to be a part of your life and just to be connected with you."

Published: January 26, 2011