He hadn’t given up looking, but Richard had long ago stopped expecting he’d find anything about his biological family.



<figure class="wp-block-image alignright"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="300" height="169" src="https://blog-api.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/Richard-B-300x169.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-26408" srcset="https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/Richard-B-300x169.jpg 300w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/Richard-B-768x432.jpg 768w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/Richard-B-880x495.jpg 880w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/Richard-B-980x555.jpg 980w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/Richard-B.jpg 986w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px" /></figure>



A 50-year-old adoptee, he’d been stymied for years by sealed adoption records. So when Richard’s wife gave him a 23andMe kit for Christmas last year, they were more focused on learning about health and traits he may have inherited, and maybe get some information about his ancestry.



That’s why one of his DNA Relative connections was such a shock.



“When I read the first line: ‘I am your sister,’ I dropped my phone,” Richard told KSNV Channel 3 in Las Vegas.



Connecting with Sarah, his half-sister in London, allowed him to fill in the blank pages of his life. And probably most emotional of all for Richard was that Sarah immediately knew who he was. She’d known about him for more than 15 years but assumed he was living in Ireland. Her father, Richard’s biological father, had told her about having fathered a child with his girlfriend when the two were in college and of putting up the boy&#8217;s adoption. That’s all that Sarah had known.



But it was all a revelation to Richard, who was able to learn more about his biological family.



“I had completely given up hope of ever finding out any information about my birth family,” he said. “I now know so much more about my adoption and my birth father, and I have gained an amazing sister.”



&nbsp;

23andMe Blog

23andMe Blog Team

23andMe Helps Adoptee Find Biological Family

One of the best gifts for Father’s Day is getting to spend some time with your son or daughter, especially if you haven’t been able to do that before.
&nbsp;
This year, 23andMe brought together five fathers for a barbecue in Houston with children they connected with through 23andMe. For most,  this was their first Father’s Day with a grown son or daughter they hadn’t known they even had, until discovering their genetic connection through 23andMe.
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“It’s a miracle,” said Alex, who spent the time with his newfound daughter Esther. 
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Alex hadn’t known of her birth more than 28 years ago. It wasn’t until a cousin reached out — with whom Esther had connected with using 23andMe — that he learned he had another daughter.
&nbsp;
“I’d always wanted another daughter,” he said.

For Esther, who’d been searching for years for her biological father, meeting him for the first time was life-changing.
<div id="attachment_26261" style="width: 310px" class="wp-caption alignright"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-26261" src="https://blog-api.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/IMG_3426-300x200.jpg" alt="" class="size-medium wp-image-26261" width="300" height="200" srcset="https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/IMG_3426-300x200.jpg 300w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/IMG_3426-1024x683.jpg 1024w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/IMG_3426-880x587.jpg 880w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/IMG_3426-1180x787.jpg 1180w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/IMG_3426-768x512.jpg 768w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px" /> Esther and Francisco Blue de Avalos and her father, Alex Rabar on the right.</div>
She’d been nervous about meeting him for the first time, but almost immediately felt a sort of unconditional love for him. The connection with him was incredibly important for her, but it also meant her three young daughters now had another grandfather in their lives.
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“And that&#8217;s all because of 23andMe,” she said.
&nbsp;
Ben didn’t know of his son Adam Runyan’s birth 35 years ago. Ben was stunned when his son Levi, a 31-year-old corrections officer, called him to say he had another son to add to his family of two sons and two daughters. Ben said when he showed his 94-year-old mother Adam’s picture she said:
&nbsp;
“That boy looks like you!”
<div id="attachment_26262" style="width: 310px" class="wp-caption alignright"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-26262" src="https://blog-api.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/IMG_3432-300x200.jpg" alt="" class="size-medium wp-image-26262" width="300" height="200" srcset="https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/IMG_3432-300x200.jpg 300w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/IMG_3432-1024x683.jpg 1024w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/IMG_3432-880x587.jpg 880w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/IMG_3432-1180x787.jpg 1180w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/IMG_3432-768x512.jpg 768w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px" />Adam and Kristen Runyan (on the right) with Adam&#8217;s father Ben Gurule and his wife Suzanne.</div>
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What amazed Ben is that he immediately felt his heart open to his newfound son Adam, a counselor.
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“I do have amazing children, and he fits right in,”  Ben said. “To me, this is a blessing. Something I didn’t think was possible.”
&nbsp;
Adam felt an immediate connection to his father and siblings.
&nbsp;
For Ricky, who connected with his grown daughter Lisa McIndoo, it was hard to describe his feelings.
 “Here she is, and she’s just beautiful and funny and bright,” he said. “I’m weak-kneed with emotion.”
&nbsp;
Lisa, an adoptee who grew up in a loving family and became an Episcopal priest, felt finding her biological father was incredibly valuable. She loved her dad, the man who raised her, but like many adoptees, she always wondered.
&nbsp;
<div id="attachment_26265" style="width: 310px" class="wp-caption alignright"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-26265" src="https://blog-api.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/IMG_2634-300x240.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-26265 size-medium" width="300" height="240" srcset="https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/IMG_2634-300x240.jpg 300w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/IMG_2634-768x614.jpg 768w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/IMG_2634-1024x819.jpg 1024w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/IMG_2634-880x704.jpg 880w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/IMG_2634-1180x944.jpg 1180w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px" />Lisa McIndoo, with her birth father Ricky Beach.</div>
“There’s really no way to describe how completing it can be to find a biological parent,” said Lisa, who had for years felt like there was a missing puzzle piece in her life that she’s now found “To spend Father’s Day together and to be here with him is almost unreal.”
&nbsp;
For Larry, this was a different kind of Father’s Day, one that’s not easy to explain. He’d spent Father’s Day with his daughter Sherry, but this was the first one he’d spent with her knowing that she was his biological daughter. You see she’d been born just after he and her mom began dating. They’d assumed
that he was not her father, but he raised her as if she were. It never mattered to Larry or Sherry. Larry was her dad, whether he was her biological father or not. Almost 15 years ago, he’d even told her if she wanted him to take a DNA test to find out, he’d do it, but she told him no.
&nbsp;
Then recently Sherry’s 37-year-old daughter tested. In looking at the surnames of DNA Relatives she
<div id="attachment_26259" style="width: 310px" class="wp-caption alignright"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-26259" src="https://blog-api.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/IMG_3405-300x200.jpg" alt="" class="size-medium wp-image-26259" width="300" height="200" srcset="https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/IMG_3405-300x200.jpg 300w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/IMG_3405-1024x683.jpg 1024w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/IMG_3405-880x587.jpg 880w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/IMG_3405-1180x787.jpg 1180w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/IMG_3405-768x512.jpg 768w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px" />On the left is Sherry Brown&#8217;s mother, Elberta Roberts and her father Larry with Sherry and her husband Daniel Kennedy.</div>
matched with on 23andMe, Larry knew almost right away that Sherry was his biological daughter. He and Sherry sent off a kit and soon confirmed it.
&nbsp;
It was surprisingly emotional for them both.
&nbsp;
“It was as if all the sudden I had a new daughter,” Larry said.
&nbsp;
Sherry said they both realized that the result didn’t change the dynamics of their relationship, but “the truth is a powerful thing,” she said.
<div id="attachment_26260" style="width: 310px" class="wp-caption alignright"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-26260" src="https://blog-api.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/IMG_3413-300x200.jpg" alt="" class="size-medium wp-image-26260" width="300" height="200" srcset="https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/IMG_3413-300x200.jpg 300w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/IMG_3413-1024x683.jpg 1024w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/IMG_3413-880x587.jpg 880w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/IMG_3413-1180x787.jpg 1180w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/IMG_3413-768x512.jpg 768w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px" />From right to left Rebecca Bond, her father Thomas Metzger, her son Kameron and Vicki and Thomas Metzger (Rebecca&#8217;s father).</div>
For Rebecca Bond, finding her biological father and getting to spend her first Father’s Day with him was immeasurable.
&nbsp;
“Not having a father impacts you deeply,” she said.
&nbsp;
Raised by a single mom, she was told her father had died. She had yearned for a dad, someone who would have been there to see her off for the prom, or walk her down the aisle during her wedding, or to be a grandfather to her son.
&nbsp;
When she made a surprising connection with a half-sister and then found him, she was stunned.
&nbsp;
“There are no words to express the feelings I have,” she said.
&nbsp;
Thomas summed it up for everyone when he said:
&nbsp;
“This is one of the most wonderful things that has ever happened to me.”
&nbsp;
Being a father is about more than just biology, but making those connections and understanding your history can be important in many ways.
&nbsp;
To all the dads out there, Happy Father’s Day from 23andMe.
&nbsp;
Check out the stories from 23andMe’s Father’s Day BBQ <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rJF93KXZfYk&#038;list=PLFvkfbvHpp1kU9nvguZrZ2Y7nYc8_swVA">here</a>.
&nbsp;

Happy Father’s Day 2018

On her birthday in April Betty Jeannotte joined a pretty exclusive club when she turned 100.
She didn’t want to make a big fuss, but the managers at the senior living community where Betty lives in Florida sure wished to mark the occasion offering her a “wish of a lifetime.” Betty, who is from Maine, didn’t ask for much.
<div id="attachment_26232" style="width: 232px" class="wp-caption alignright"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-26232" src="https://blog-api.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/Betty-Portrait-222x300.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-26232 size-medium" width="222" height="300" />Betty Jeannotte</div>
“They asked if I wanted to take a trip back to Maine or if I wanted something else,” she said.
But Betty was more interested in learning about her ancestry, so she got a 23andMe kit and a chance to work with a genealogist to find out a little bit more about her ancestry.
“Years and years ago I’d done a little research, but I never got very far,” she said. “And I was curious.”
Her gift and gifts for others who reach this milestone is something that the<a href="https://www.brookdale.com/en.html"> Brookdale Senior Living</a> communities have been doing for years after teaming up with the non-profit<a href="http://www.wishofalifetime.org"> Wish of a Lifetime</a> in 2010. They offer seniors a chance to fulfill dreams deferred and since then they’ve offered gifts that include piloting planes, skydiving and getting behind the wheel of a racecar.
Betty wasn’t so interested in jumping out of a plane or speeding down a racetrack, but she did want to find out a little about her ancestry and used 23andMe and the help of a local genealogist to learn more about the family history. He found 7 generations of her maternal family.
“It was fascinating,” she said.
The information added another layer to what she already knew. Her 23andMe <a href="https://www.23andme.com/dna-ancestry/">Ancestry Composition</a> showed she’s about 80 percent English and Irish with a little bit of German in the mix. That reflects accurately with what she knows about her parents’ family histories.
Her mom was “of Yankee stock,” while her dad, who had been a vaudeville magician, was a Bostonian whose family originally came from Ireland. He swept Betty’s mom off her feet.
“You could say that,” Betty said.
It was part of his magic trick.
Betty’s mother lived in Old Orchard Beach, which at the time was a gathering place of Bostonians and New Yorkers during the summer. Her dad, and his vaudeville partner were among the vacationers, and that’s how Betty’s mom met her dad.
<div id="attachment_26233" style="width: 235px" class="wp-caption alignright"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-26233" src="https://blog-api.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/Betty-Photos-e1527807973527-225x300.jpeg" alt="" class="wp-image-26233 size-medium" width="225" height="300" />Scenes from a life well lived.</div>
“Adams &amp; Mack” gave “benefit” performances for the town – Betty’s mom, who’d played the organ at church, agreed to be the musical accompaniment for the show. When they needed a volunteer for the levitating portion of their magic show, she volunteered.
“It’s a funny story,” Betty said. “My mother’s dad insisted on seeing how they did the trick before he’d allow her to do the show.”
Betty still has a snapshot of her mom floating above the stage as her dad passes a ring over her body — sweeping her off her feet.
Her dad settled in town, and her parents married. He eventually came to own and operate stores that sold newspapers and magazines and included a soda shop. He became politically active and was appointed postmaster in the ‘30s. Betty grew up a bit of a tomboy in that part of rural Maine but eventually went to college in New Jersey.
“I went to St. Elizabeth’s in Morristown and graduated in June of 1941, and you know what happened in December of that year,” Betty said.
She worked in the civil service throughout the war and corresponded with “a fella I met in college.”
That “fella” was Russell Jeannotte, who eventually would become Betty’s husband. Most of his time during the war was in North Africa where he was stationed with the U.S. Army Air Corps. After the war, the couple settled in Freeport, Maine, close to the original LL Bean, where Russell operated a funeral home. Betty was an elementary and middle school teacher for 28 years.
The couple had two children, a son, who went into the Army, and a daughter, who became a chiropractor. After they retired Betty and her husband moved in the early 1980s near Sarasota, Florida where some friends had settled.
“They kept saying we should move out of the cold,” she said. “I was never sorry about the move. Maine still feels like home, but I’m happy in Florida.”
In 2001 her husband died and then three years ago, Betty lost her daughter to cancer, and then something happened. Her daughter’s friends rallied around and were &#8211; and remain &#8211; so supportive, they on the Gulf Coast and Betty in Fort Lauderdale. It was their two closest family friends, one of whom is the son of Betty’s college roommate, who influenced her to move across state to Brookdale. It is those long time friends and the new Brookdale friends she has made which make each day a good one.
“I’m sometimes asked about my secret to aging,” Betty said. “I’ve never been particularly athletic. I eat well, but I don’t concentrate on it.”
And she doesn’t think it’s her genetics either. Her mother died young, at only 53. Her dad made it to 70, and even going back further, and no one made it much beyond 70.
“I guess if anyone asks me why don’t you sound like a little old lady, I guess my secret or the only reason I can account for that is I had my daughter’s friends,” Betty said. “You know when you’re surrounded by younger people it keeps you young.”

Betty’s Wish

There aren’t Mother’s Day cards for moments like this.
<div id="attachment_26197" style="width: 310px" class="wp-caption alignright"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-26197" src="https://blog-api.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/Doug-Patricia-300x200.png" alt="" class="wp-image-26197 size-medium" width="300" height="200" srcset="https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/Doug-Patricia-300x200.png 300w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/Doug-Patricia.png 512w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px" />Doug and his biological mother Patricia.</div>
Five 23andMe customers came together this past week to reunite with the biological mother’s they found through 23andMe to celebrate their first Mother’s Day. One even met her biological mother for the very first time at this reunion. But what do you say? 

Each of them — <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XaGUyrlp9ac">Doug</a>, <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T3Cx89m8JHs">Tracy</a>, <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wmjhNrrWAH0">Tiffany</a>, <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1r0lb0iGcnA">Megan</a>, and <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bKY03NhIAOI">Amanda</a> were adopted and had loving families who raised them. They each have mothers. But they also yearned to know more about the women who gave birth to them. When they finally found them, they searched for the right words to say.

Sitting with her son Doug Clarke, her arm linked in his, a beaming Patricia Johnson, said she’d never stopped thinking of him in the more than five decades since she put him into adoption. She always had a feeling of emptiness not knowing what had become of her son, so when they finally found each other, his words were the best present she could have ever received.

&#8220;And one of the first things this man said to me was,” she said halting with emotion. “He thanked me for giving him a beautiful life,” said Patricia, who added that making that connection filled her heart.
<iframe loading="lazy" width="560" height="315" align="aligncenter " src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/UJhZGZ4Ts8Q" frameborder="0" allow="autoplay; encrypted-media" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen">?</iframe> 
A sense of gratitude permeated much of what each of these customers said as they sat and spoke in person with their biological mothers for what would be their first Mother’s Day celebration, a brunch in New York City.

For Tiffany Cross, finding her biological mother answered so many questions, but beyond that, it added to the important women in her life.

“I have my mom, my stepmom, and mother-in-law, and now I’ve added another mom to my Mother’s Day crew,” Tiffany said.
For the mothers, who spent so many years wondering what had become of the children they’d given up for adoption, seeing them and knowing that they’d had good lives and they’d thrived to become beautiful adults was the most important gift of all.

Josephine Jones spent years wondering what had happened to her daughter Tracy Delgado, who she thought of every day. As a teenage mom, Josephine was told that it would be detrimental for her to keep her daughter, who has cerebral palsy, so she decided to give her up for adoption. Now all those years later, she didn’t know what her daughter would think of her if they ever met again, but she was waiting and hoping she would get in touch.

“I thought maybe when she turned 21 she would try to call, so we kept the same phone number for 30 something years,” Josephine said.

That phone eventually rang.

Her daughter, Tracy expressed some of the same feelings felt by others when she said that finding her biological mother and learning that her mother had never forgotten her and was searching too, healed something inside her.

“I feel so complete like a missing piece of me,” Tracy said. “I feel whole now.”

To all the mothers out there — adoptive moms, birth moms, stepmoms, mothers-in law  — Happy Mother’s Day from 23andMe. 

Check out the stories from 23andMe’s Mother’s Day brunch here.

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				From left to right, Chelsea, her cousin Niki, Chelsea&#8217;s mom Tracy, and Tracy&#8217;s biological mother JosephineTracy, and Josephine
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				<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="300" height="200" src="https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/Tiffany-and-her-biological-mother--300x200.png" class="attachment-medium size-medium" alt="" aria-describedby="gallery-1-26196" srcset="https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/Tiffany-and-her-biological-mother--300x200.png 300w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/Tiffany-and-her-biological-mother-.png 512w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px" />
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				Tiffany, center, and her biological mother Terry (on the left) and her adoptive mom, Linda.
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Happy Mother’s Day

Venus and Serena Williams, the Marx brothers, or our very own CEO Anne Wojcicki and her sisters Susan and Janet — our connections with siblings can be one of the strongest bonds in our lives. Finding those connections is one of the things that make 23andMe so special, our ability to reunite long-lost siblings — some have been looking for each other for years, while others never knew one another existed. 
Today on <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Siblings_Day">National Siblings Day</a>, we wanted to revisit a few of our favorite stories about brothers and sisters who built new connections with the help of 23andMe.

<a href="http://people.com/human-interest/identical-twin-sisters-separated-birth-find-each-other-33-years-later/">Amanda and Katey</a>
<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" src="https://blog-api.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/Amanda-Kay-1024x620.jpg" alt="" class="aligncenter size-large wp-image-26115" width="1024" height="620" srcset="https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/Amanda-Kay-1024x620.jpg 1024w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/Amanda-Kay-300x182.jpg 300w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/Amanda-Kay-768x465.jpg 768w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/Amanda-Kay-880x533.jpg 880w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/Amanda-Kay-1180x715.jpg 1180w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/Amanda-Kay.jpg 1311w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" />The story of identical twin sisters Amanda and Katey finding each other still gives us goosebumps. The pair were both born in Seoul, South Korea, but separated after being adopted to two separate American families. Amanda grew up in California, while Katey was raised in Arizona. They found each other using 23andMe after 33 years being apart. They soon discovered uncanny parallels in their lives — from failing algebra the same year in school, to passing their driving test on the second try. After decades apart the two sisters are now making up for lost time.

<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hw8G1JCr47w">Winnie and Meta</a>
<iframe loading="lazy" width="640" height="360" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/Hw8G1JCr47w" frameborder="0" allow="autoplay; encrypted-media" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen"></iframe>
Winnie always knew she was adopted. The 76-year-old always felt supported, had children and grandchildren who loved her, but always felt something was missing. Winnie spent decades searching for her birth family, pouring over her adoption records, and searching through tens of thousands of names she thought might lead her to her birth mother or father. Winnie’s big break didn’t come until she took 23andMe’s DNA test, which helped her find a nephew, and ultimately her half sister, Meta. This led her to two more half sisters and her half brother, who were overjoyed to meet her. Winnie shared with us when she found her family, “To actually hug someone you are biologically related at 75 years old, is just amazing.” 

<a href="https://www.today.com/video/watch-3-siblings-reunite-with-their-long-lost-sister-on-megyn-kelly-today-1185580099728">Laurie, Amber, Christine and Brian</a>

<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" src="https://blog-api.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/Siblings-Laurie-Christine-Brian-and-Amber-1024x566.jpg" alt="" class="aligncenter size-large wp-image-26116" width="1024" height="566" srcset="https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/Siblings-Laurie-Christine-Brian-and-Amber-1024x566.jpg 1024w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/Siblings-Laurie-Christine-Brian-and-Amber-300x166.jpg 300w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/Siblings-Laurie-Christine-Brian-and-Amber-768x424.jpg 768w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/Siblings-Laurie-Christine-Brian-and-Amber-880x486.jpg 880w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/Siblings-Laurie-Christine-Brian-and-Amber-1180x652.jpg 1180w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/Siblings-Laurie-Christine-Brian-and-Amber-271x149.jpg 271w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" />
Siblings Laurie, Christine, Brian and Amber were adopted at a very young age. While Laurie, Christine and Brian stayed together, Amber, the youngest, was adopted by a separate family. The four were separated for decades. Then Laurie took the 23andMe genetic test and got an unexpected message, “you have one direct family member” in her DNA Relatives report. For decades the four siblings had no means of finding each other. Now that they’ve connected, they are talking non-stop. Best of all, Amber is pregnant and she will be giving her child the gift of additional family, two aunts and an uncle. 

<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6eYt9CESTq4">Pat and Angel</a>
<iframe loading="lazy" width="640" height="360" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/6eYt9CESTq4" frameborder="0" allow="autoplay; encrypted-media" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen"></iframe>
Pat was adopted as a baby, and never knew any of her birth family. Her daughter Kelle used 23andMe not knowing she would find her mother’s sister, Angel. For years Pat’s fear of being rejected by her birth family, prevented her from searching for them. But after she and her sister Angel connected in December 2016, she was welcomed with open arms and has never looked back.

Anyone with a brother or sister knows the bonds siblings can share. That’s what makes these stories of siblings finding each other so powerful. Not everyone is looking for long lost family, but we all have our own DNA stories. What’s your 23andMe story? We’d love to hear it. Please share it with us at <a href="mailto:stories@23andMe.com">stories@23andMe.com</a>.

23andMe Celebrates Siblings Day

This year, 23andMe is a <a href="https://www.23andme.com/dna-champion/">proud supporter</a> of NBC’s coverage of the 2018 Winter Olympic Games.
<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" src="https://blog-api.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/JuliaMancuso_1080-300x300.jpg" alt="" class="alignright size-medium wp-image-26025" height="300" width="300" srcset="https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/JuliaMancuso_1080-300x300.jpg 300w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/JuliaMancuso_1080-150x150.jpg 150w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/JuliaMancuso_1080-768x768.jpg 768w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/JuliaMancuso_1080-1024x1024.jpg 1024w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/JuliaMancuso_1080-880x880.jpg 880w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/JuliaMancuso_1080-271x271.jpg 271w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/JuliaMancuso_1080-372x372.jpg 372w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/JuliaMancuso_1080-574x574.jpg 574w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/JuliaMancuso_1080-980x980.jpg 980w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/JuliaMancuso_1080.jpg 1080w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px" />
This campaign is a first for us, but we have always been big fans and supporters of the Olympic Games, what they stand for &#8211; unity, connection, and a celebration of our collective DNA, and the athletes who spend much of their lives preparing for this moment every four years.

In sport, the difference between winning and losing is measured in fractions of a second, the sharpness of a turn, or the will to push past your physical and mental limits. As spectators, it’s easy to forget that leading up to those brief moments in competition are many years of training.

We learned a little bit about what makes a champion by meeting several <a href="https://www.23andme.com/dna-champion/">legendary winter athletes</a> who shared some of the insights about themselves they learned through their 23andMe results. Former gold medal skier Julia Mancuso used 23andMe to explore her heritage and gleens some info from her genetic weight report. Joey Cheek, a champion speed skater, learned that despite always being told that his lean frame was better for endurance races, his gold medal, and his genetics, confirmed he was built for speed. 

Bode Miller, the legendary Olympic champion skier summed it up when he said, “Information is one of the most critical pieces of … really anything and certainly speed skating. You need to know where your strengths are and where to apply them.”

While 23andMe can’t tell you whether you have the DNA of a Champion, like these Olympians, the information we report to you may give you an edge that makes a difference in your life.

Explore what your DNA says about you, and enjoy this year’s Winter Games.

The DNA of a Champion

Every day for 55 years, Ida Pollack thought about her baby, wondering if she’d made a mistake in letting him go.
As she’d told the Omaha Herald recently, she always asked herself the same thing: “Did I make the right decision?’”
Now she finally has the answer thanks to 23andMe.
A few weeks ago Ida, and the son she raised Travis, met her first born, Barrie Bode, who Ida gave up for adoption as a frightened 19 year-old.
The meeting in New York City gave Ida the peace of mind that even though giving him up was hard it was the right thing to do.
“I was glad I did after I met him and found out what kind of life he had. He had wonderful parents,” she said.
<div id="attachment_25930" style="width: 1034px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-25930" src="https://blog-api.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/LMW0670-e1513285850598-1024x560.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-25930 size-large" width="1024" height="560" srcset="https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/LMW0670-e1513285850598-1024x560.jpg 1024w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/LMW0670-e1513285850598-300x164.jpg 300w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/LMW0670-e1513285850598-768x420.jpg 768w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/LMW0670-e1513285850598-880x481.jpg 880w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/LMW0670-e1513285850598-1180x645.jpg 1180w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/LMW0670-e1513285850598-271x149.jpg 271w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/LMW0670-e1513285850598-372x204.jpg 372w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/LMW0670-e1513285850598-574x315.jpg 574w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" />Family gathering for the first time in New York City. From Left to right, Barrie Bodie, his son Alex, Travis and Ida. </div>
&nbsp;
Their story isn’t just about Ida, but about Barrie and his brother Travis. Coming together in New York just before Thanksgiving was the culmination of months of talking and emails between Travis and Barrie.
They’d been able to find each because Barrie’s son had used 23andMe and so had Travis. Alex and Travis matched on the DNA Relatives tool as predicted first cousins — Travis and Barrie are biological half brothers.
When he first saw the match, Travis was a bit confused.
“I know all my first cousins,” he said, but he didn’t know who Alex was.
But Travis also knew that first cousins can share a similar amount of DNA as a nephew or half nephew. And he knew that his mother had given up a baby for adoption when she was a teenager. So Travis called her and asked her about the baby’s date of birth. So when Travis finally connected with Alex, he knew what to ask. “Was your dad adopted?” And “what is his date of birth?”
The dates matched his mother’s first born. Travis figured out that Alex’s father, Barrie, was his brother, and his mother’s first born.
The two connected talking on the phone for hours. For Ida the news took a little time to settle in, but soon they were making plans to meet in person.
For Barrie, who over the decades had made efforts to find his biological family, meeting his mother was a bit overwhelming. Like a lot of adoptees, he wasn’t even sure his biological parents would want to meet him.
“You always have that fear that the person might not want you to find them,” Barrie told the Omaha World Herald.
In this case, Ida and Travis welcomed him and his son Alex with open arms. For Ida meeting her son has opened a new chapter in her life.
“It’s something you’ve been thinking about your whole life, and suddenly it’s the beginning of another story,” she said.
[vc_video link=&#8221;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S2KutYiOTC8&#8243; align=&#8221;right&#8221;]

A Family Reunited Using 23andMe

If you haven&#8217;t seen it yet, take a moment to watch Amanda and Katey&#8217;s story that aired on Megan Kelly Today. <img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="alignright size-medium wp-image-25869" src="https://blog-api.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/The-twins-as-little-girls-1-300x200.jpg" alt="" width="300" height="200" srcset="https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/The-twins-as-little-girls-1-300x200.jpg 300w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/The-twins-as-little-girls-1.jpg 600w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px" />
It is stunning.
Born in Seoul South Korea, Katey and Amanda are identical twins adopted separately by families in the United States.
Amanda always knew she had a sister out there, but Katey never knew until the two found each other using 23andMe.
Amanda, who grew up in California and eventually joined the Navy, first used 23andMe four years ago. Because she didn’t have any family medical history, she took the test hoping to find out a little bit about her health. Amanda knew she also had a twin sister out there, but there were no close matches when she took her test.
Meanwhile, Katey, who grew up in Arizona but eventually settled in California, tested earlier this year. For Katey, who had no idea she even had a sister let alone a twin sister, the test was something she was doing with her family. She wanted to compare results, and her mom told her it’d be a great way to “learn a little about yourself.” But when they all opened their results the first thing that Katey saw was a match with an identical twin. There was even a photo of Amanda.
But at first, Katey thought she didn’t look anything like Amanda.” Amanda’s in the military, while she is into makeup and hair and being an LA girl, she said. But then she looked at other photos of her newfound twin, and it was like she saw herself in a different parallel universe.
“It was so odd looking at these pictures of ‘me, ’ and yet I did not know any of the other people or places in (those pictures),” she said.
Amanda had some of those same feelings, she said.
&#8220;I was excited and in disbelief but I knew I had a twin out there,” said Amanda. “For Katey, this is a total surprise.&#8221;
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23andMe Reunites Identical Twins Separated at Birth

We all hunger for identity. It gives us a sense of belonging. But increasingly, traditional categories fall short. We are all more than just white or black, Latino or Asian. We need a better way to define ourselves. <img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="alignright size-medium wp-image-25713" src="https://blog-api.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/media-2-300x300.png" alt="" width="300" height="300" srcset="https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/media-2-300x300.png 300w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/media-2-150x150.png 150w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/media-2-271x271.png 271w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/media-2-372x372.png 372w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/media-2.png 377w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px" /> 

<h2>Self Exploration</h2>
At the core of the <a href="https://www.23andme.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">23andMe</a> experience is self-exploration, giving people a chance to peer into their DNA to find that subtle, sometimes surprising, and even uncomfortable mix in their identity: A Lebanese man with deep Arab roots learning he has <a href="https://youtu.be/0ueSiDXce2E">Ashkenazi Jewish ancestry</a>, an African American woman of deep faith learning that her <a href="https://youtu.be/iMk-ZdBLcEE">religious heritage</a> is more mixed than she imagined, a proud son of the South meeting and reconciling with his <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=akc6tbW8aOg&amp;list=PLFvkfbvHpp1lQ8bqNZaO629ePXdH7qSPx&amp;index=2&amp;pbjreload=10">African American cousin</a>, and a successful young woman, <a href="https://youtu.be/PLazxh2pBdQ">Angelina</a>, who described herself as African American discovering she has Native American and Latino ancestry.
For years, we’ve heard from customers who have shared their stories of self-exploration. Over the summer, we began to explore some of these in short videos. We delve into this new notion of self-identity, finding people who learn about their own surprising mixed ethnicity.
<h2>New Campaign</h2>
Elegantly assembled by Emmy Award-winning filmmakers Jeremy Levine and Landon Van Soest of Transient Pictures, this campaign is more than just a company embracing a message of diversity. It offers people the tools to look into their DNA to help them redefine themselves and change how they look at the world.
<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="aligncenter wp-image-25712 size-full" src="http://35.88.189.111/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/Stories.001.jpg" alt="" width="1024" height="768" srcset="https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/Stories.001.jpg 1024w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/Stories.001-300x225.jpg 300w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/Stories.001-768x576.jpg 768w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/Stories.001-880x660.jpg 880w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" />

Stories — Page 10