BAGSHOT, England – While his teammates were hanging around playing video games or heading down into London on Tuesday to see of the city, Detroit Lions defensive end Ezekiel Ansah had something more special in mind.

For the first time in six years, he went to see his sister.

Elizabeth Giddings is a stay-at-home mom in North London, watching her two children. She knew her younger brother was headed to England with the Lions, but she figured she wouldn’t see him until later this week or this weekend.

Ansah changed that. He hopped in a cab and told the driver to take him to her address. Then he knocked on her door. She opened it.

“She just like fell on the floor,” Ansah said. “Like overwhelmed.”

That’s what happens when family that lives a world away surprises one another. Giddings and Ansah are two of five siblings, and while Ansah saw the rest of them on a trip back to Accra, Ghana, in March, he had not seen his sister seven years older than him.

They stay in touch by email, Facebook and Skype, but have not been in the same room together for more than half a decade. Ansah said they haven’t seen each other because he works in the United States – and before that went to college there at BYU – and she has lived overseas and not in Ghana. So when he showed up, they spent around five or six hours together and Giddings made her brother a traditional African meal featuring chicken and rice.

He also spent time with her two children, including a 10-month old he had never met. Another of Giddings' sons wore the Spiderman costume Ansah bought him for Halloween the entire time.

“He was excited about it,” said Lions coach Jim Caldwell, who had not spoken with Ansah specifically about the trip.

As an added bonus, Ansah also got to see his mother, Elizabeth, because she has been in London staying with his sister.

Ansah said his sister is planning to attend the game against Atlanta at Wembley Stadium on Sunday.

So while Ansah had to come to England for work like the rest of his teammates, he was able to also have a long-awaited family reunion before most of the football work got started. While it has been disappointing to not see her more often, he understands why.

“There’s nothing I can do about it,” Ansah said. “I just have to live with it.

“But I’m happy I was able to see her.”