BROTHERS who didn’t know each other existed until four years ago, have been wrenched apart again, this time by coronavirus.

Fred O’Donnell, 82, who lives in Little Horton, was born at the Catholic St Patrick’s Mother and Baby Home, in Dublin, to a single mum.

Life for single women who had children out of wedlock was hard in those days and Fred was put into care as a toddler. What he never knew until 2016 was that he had a brother, Jimmy, who was two years older. Jimmy had been born at the Protestant Bethany Mother and Baby Home, also in Dublin.

Times were hard for both boys, experiencing life in orphanages, foster care and special schools. Their mother remained working at a Magdalene laundry for the next 56 years.

Fred had a number of foster carers. Daughter, Theresa Wardley, said he didn’t speak a lot about his childhood, but knew there had been problems with his last foster parents.

“Somehow they threw him out and he ended up on the streets of Dublin at just eight years old,” she said.

He was taken in by Artane Industrial School, also in Dublin, where he stayed until he was 16.

“He left and found work as a farm hand for a few years with a lovely family who we are still in touch with. We call them cousins,” Theresa added.

She said some time later Fred came over to England, first to London and then to Bradford where he met his wife, also called Theresa. They married in 1963 and had three daughters. One now lives in Australia.

Fred worked for the gas board in Leeds and Bradford for the rest of his working life. Sadly his wife died in 2007.

Theresa said they were always interested in finding out more about his family and she contacted St Patricks. A diary record gave them a surprise when it mentioned a sibling, a sister.

“We later found out that it was in fact a brother and I got in touch with Finders International to see if they could help find him,” Theresa added.

The company did searches and eventually, in 2016, found Jimmy living alone in Cheltenham. Theresa said that while they were overjoyed at finding their uncle, they were frustrated because Jimmy thought the letter from Finders was a scam and ignored it.

“Finders wrote again and a friend at the bar he worked at, even at the age of 80, said it seemed genuine and we arranged to meet.”

She said the brothers were thrilled to have found one another and she and her sister, Patricia Pargeter, used to take their father down to Cheltenham every six weeks.

“My uncle was independent. He had never married saying women cost too much,” she chuckled.

Sadly, a few months ago Jimmy moved into care in Cheltenham and it was here he caught coronavirus. He died on April 19.

Theresa added: “We are all devastated, especially dad as we can’t go to the funeral to say goodbye but it is being streamed live to us.

“We are planning a memorial once the virus is over and will bring Jimmy’s ashes back up here.

“Dad wants Jimmy’s ashes placing alongside his when he eventually passes away so they can be together again.”