IT WAS a knock at the door that changed everything.
Pauline Wood had been searching for her long-lost brother for more than 40 years before being reunited with him after appearing on an ITV programme.
The 77-year-old grandmother, from Longhill, Hull appeared on an episode of Long Lost Family this week, which was partly filmed at her home.
The programme, which traces and reunites families who have been apart for most of their lives, successfully tracked down Pauline's brother Colin in February.
Pauline was ecstatic when she discovered her brother had been found but received a shock when the programme's presenter Davina McCall revealed she also had two sisters, Sandra and Patsy.
She said: "It was very emotional – I felt like I was on a rollercoaster.
"I was looking for one person and I found three.
"When they told me that Davina was coming to the house, I knew they must have found something, but I didn't expect that."
A second brother, Michael, was also born but he died late last year.
Pauline was adopted at birth and grew up as an only child, living an isolated existence on the Isle of Wight.
She said: "I was very lonely and I would have loved a brother or sister to play with.
"There was a bad atmosphere at home – there was always tension and I didn't feel loved by my parents."
Pauline escaped her stifling home when she moved to Chichester at the age of 18 to train as a nurse.
Several years later she met her late husband Alan and the couple had four sons – the family Pauline had always longed for.
It was only when Pauline's adopted father died that she discovered her birth parents had married a few months after she was born and went on to have their eldest son Colin a year later.
Pauline had no knowledge of her other siblings but became determined to find her long-lost brother so she started searching for him in 1964 at the age of 28.
Despite great efforts, Pauline did not have any success with her search and it was only when her partner Chris suggested getting in touch with the programme that she seriously thought about looking for them again.
The emotional reunion was captured by cameras at a pub in south London, close to the cemetery where their parents are buried.
As the siblings got to know each other, they were surprised to find out they were much closer than they ever realised.
Pauline said: "The more we found out about each other, the more we realised there were strange coincidences."
The family discovered that during the many years Pauline lived in Lincoln, her youngest sister Patsy was living only a few miles away.
"I could have sat next to her on the bus and never known," said Pauline.
She now sees Colin and Sandra regularly, and met her other sister Patsy for the first time last week.
Pauline says meeting her siblings has given her a sense of identity that she never had.
She said: "Being reunited after all these years was incredible – it's almost as though we had known each other all our lives.
"It should have happened a long, long time ago but now at least we can start making up for lost time."
