MONDAY night’s episode of ITV’s documentary series Long Lost Family: What Happened Next caught up with Pearse Egan, who appeared on the original show in 2018.
Long Lost Family host Davina McCall helped Pearse connect with dad Eddie Santos in 2018 and checked up on their progress in the new series. However, the latest episode of the spin-off revealed a double tragedy for the father and son.
My Long Lost Family ,
My Long Lost Family ,
Monday 8 August’s episode of Long Lost Family: What Happened Next aired heartbreaking scenes as it following up on Pearse Egan’s relationship with his father, who he’d been searching for 29 years.
Pearse grew up in the Republic of Ireland with his mum, Anne. She’d met Eddie, Pearse’s father, while in New York. She was 17-years-old, and he was working as a security guard.
After she discovered she was pregnant, Anne decided to move back home to Ireland, where she raised Pearse.
However, because of that decision, Pearse had never met his father until Davina found him in 2018.
The episode showed those emotional scenes between Davina and Pearse as she tells him she’d found his father, Eddie.
“I want a dad, you know, I want to say the world. I’ve never been able to say that to anyone,” Pearse told her.
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Eddie flew from New York to London to meet his son for the first time.
After their first meeting, Eddie was thrilled about how much he’d connected with his son.
“We’ve connected big time,” he said.
They continued getting to know each other in London before Eddie flew back to the States.
Speaking to Davina again in 2022, Pearse said they’ve kept in touch. However, he admitted the last couple of years have not been easy on their relationship.
His dad suffered a heart attack and later contracted Coronavirus.
Now when they speak, Pearse does most of the talking because Eddie can’t speak much and gets tired very easily.
“To be honest, it’s one of those things. I didn’t know what I had until it went,” he told Davina.
He has been able to visit his dad in person though, telling her he’s been to New York “three or four times.” However, he admitted that the first trip was “very emotional.”
He’s happy with where their relationship is at now.
“I feel very connected, very grounded and very happy about it all,” he said.
Pearse has also discovered new members of his family. He discovered he had a half-brother, Nick Kucharski, who he met for the first time in London during the episode.
Although Nick grew up in New York, Pearse discovered that his dad wasn’t involved in his brother’s childhood, either.
This helped them connect.
“Knowing that there was someone who had similar experiences to me gave me a huge sense of validation,” Nick said.
However, he isn’t as keen as Pearse to build a relationship with Eddie, though explained that he doesn’t hold any resentment toward him.
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“The friendship that Nick and I have developed is something we both didn’t ever see happening,” says Pearse.
“To have that connection is more than I could have ever imagined.”
Long Lost Family: What happened Next continues next Monday on ITV AT 9pm.
Pearse connected with his long lost half-brother
