This is the emotional moment an 89-year-old finally enjoyed a dance with his daughter, who he found 58 years after she and her mother ‘disappeared into thin air’.
Roy David, based in London, appeared on Long Lost Family in 2021 after spending decades searching for his daughter Cheryl, who he’d last seen as a six-year-old in the Bronx, New York.
Cheryl and her mother Sylvia ‘disappeared into thin air’ while Roy was in the merchant navy – but thankfully the father and daughter were reunited on the ITV programme after more than half a decade apart.
However, in tonight’s Long Lost Family: What Happened Next, Roy, the show’s oldest searcher, explained how he is suffering from glaucoma, a common cause of sight loss. He admitted he is making possibly his last trip to New York to see his daughter.
In a sweet moment at his 89th birthday party, the pair – who, despite the distance, have visited each other as much as possible – enjoy a father-daughter dance after Cheryl explained how it makes up for the one she didn’t get at her wedding.
This is the emotional moment an 89-year-old finally enjoyed a dance with his daughter, who he found 58 years after she and her mother ‘disappeared into thin air’
She said: ‘I got to dance with my father. Yes I did. When I was married, the first dance would usually be with your father. I never got that. I got it today. The love in the room was overflowing, it was a true blessing.
‘This trip has been a little bit different, because it’s probably the last trip he’ll make to the States. So it was really important that I made it as memorable and a happy time as possible,’ she added.
Roy, meanwhile, admitted: ‘What happened today will live in my heart for the rest of my life. It was the happiest birthday I ever spent in all my 89 years.’
Born in Guyana, South America, Roy spent his life in the merchant navy. In the 1950s, aged 19, he arrived in New York and met student nurse Sylvia, Cheryl’s mother.
After Sylvia became pregnant, Roy married her and moved in with her mother. However he was soon kicked out of the home due to rising tensions following his long spells at sea.
For five years he would visit his daughter, until, one day, his family had ‘disappeared into thin air’, with Roy eventually settling in England and marrying Itha, who he’s been with for over 40 years.
Astonishingly, Cherly was discovered in Queens, not far from the Bronx, and in heartwarming scenes, which first aired in 2021, the father and daughter were reunited in London.
Speaking on the show, Roy, who has a son from a previous relationship and three stepchildren, remembered the joy of becoming a father for the first time.
Roy spent decades hoping to find his daughter Cheryl. Pictured, Roy and Cheryl reunited
Born in Guyana, South America, Roy spent his life in the merchant navy. In the 1950s, aged 19, he arrived in New York and met student nurse Sylvia, Cheryl’s mother. Pictured, the father and daughter dancing together
Speaking on the show, Roy, who has a son from a previous relationship and three stepchildren, remembers the joy of becoming a father for the first time. Pictured, Cheryl on her wedding day
He said: ‘She was a lovely child – one of my great experiences of her, my first child, is changing nappies for the first time and taking her out in her pram. I felt very good as a father.’
But there were tensions within the family. Roy felt he didn’t live up to his mother-in-law’s expectations and he was often away at sea. Eventually, Sylvia and her mother asked Roy to leave. He recalled: ‘I didn’t want to leave but they told me go.’
Over the next five years, whenever Roy returned from sea, he went to visit his daughter – until, one day, she was no longer there.
Roy said: ‘I found out they had moved. [It] was like she just disappeared in thin air. They made sure they left no trail to which I could follow.’
Roy settled in England and married Itha, but had never stopped thinking about his daughter, saying: ‘I really and truly would like to say to her how sorry I am I was not there for her, and I should have been.
‘It’s eating away at me every day, every day. I don’t think I could go to my resting place with that on my conscious. I’m of an age now where I don’t think I may have long. I would really like to see my daughter.’
Astonishingly, Cherly (pictured meeting her half-brother Gerald) was discovered in Queens, not far from the Bronx
The Long Lost Family team found Roy’s daughter, Cheryl David, still living in New York. Cheryl, who is married and has children and grandchildren, was shocked to discover her father (pictured) was looking for her
The Long Lost Family team found Roy’s daughter, Cheryl David, still living in New York. Cheryl, who is married and has children and grandchildren, was shocked to discover her father was looking for her.
She said her father was never spoken about when she was growing up so she blocked him out, not believing she would ever get the chance to meet him.
Cheryl was also thrilled to hear she has a brother, especially when she discovers he lives just around the corner from her in New York.
Cheryl and her eldest daughter Derisse, 47, flew to London to meet Roy after quarantining, with the father and daughter collapsing into one another’s arms in a moving reunion.
Meeting outside at a park, Roy told Cheryl that he loves her, while she rested her head on his shoulders.
Roy reflected: ‘I was on cloud nine, and I feel like I was walking in space, the moment was so great. It made me a new man, yes, a real new man… that guilt is lifted, my life is completed.’
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