Last week, a few 23andMe customers came together for a special brunch and a chance to celebrate their first Mother’s Day with the birth moms they discovered, with the help of 23andMe.
<div id="attachment_27074" style="width: 310px" class="wp-caption alignright"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-27074" src="https://blog-api.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/23-and-me-190501-0040-300x200.jpg" alt="" class="size-medium wp-image-27074" width="300" height="200" srcset="https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/23-and-me-190501-0040-300x200.jpg 300w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/23-and-me-190501-0040-768x513.jpg 768w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/23-and-me-190501-0040-1024x684.jpg 1024w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/23-and-me-190501-0040-880x587.jpg 880w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/23-and-me-190501-0040-1180x788.jpg 1180w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/23-and-me-190501-0040.jpg 1600w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px" />From left, Amanda, her birth mother Julia, her mother Janice, and her biological sister Laura.</div>
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For Amanda, the event was sweeter because she was able to honor not just the mother who gave her life — Julia — but also her adoptive mom — Janice — who raised and guided her through her life.
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“I got to celebrate with both my moms,” said Amanda. “It was a beautiful event.”

<iframe loading="lazy" width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/xOO4NU_zagw" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen"></iframe>
For Jacob, the event was a chance to meet his birth mother, Natalie, in person for the first time. It was a meeting neither of them thought would be possible.
Jacob was raised by loving parents and always knew he was adopted. But the question of who his birth mom was always lingered, and he began searching years ago. Natalie, too, had been looking, even resorting to using a private investigator. Despite all their efforts neither Jacob nor Natalie were able to find each other.
<div id="attachment_27075" style="width: 310px" class="wp-caption alignright"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-27075" src="https://blog-api.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/23-and-me-190501-0002-300x200.jpg" alt="" class="size-medium wp-image-27075" width="300" height="200" srcset="https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/23-and-me-190501-0002-300x200.jpg 300w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/23-and-me-190501-0002-768x513.jpg 768w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/23-and-me-190501-0002-1024x684.jpg 1024w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/23-and-me-190501-0002-880x587.jpg 880w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/23-and-me-190501-0002-1180x788.jpg 1180w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/23-and-me-190501-0002.jpg 1600w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px" />Jacob, on the right, and his birth mother Natalie.</div>
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It wasn’t until Jacob used 23andMe and connected with a close relative that they were able to make a breakthrough. When Jacob finally got her contact information and called her, it was as if Natalie had been waiting by the phone just for his call. Almost immediately after he told her that he thought they might be related, Natalie asked him:
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“Are you my son?”
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Jacob thought he might be, so Natalie asked him if his birthday was November 24, 1990.
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“Yes,” he said.
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They both immediately burst into tears.
As mother and son were getting to know each other through emails and calls, Natalie sent Jacob a parcel that included several birthday cards  for the birthdays she’d missed since giving birth to Jacob and then placing him for adoption. The cards were also a way for Natalie to cope with missing out on her son’s life. 
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“I’ve always wanted to meet my biological mom,” said Jacob smiling after meeting her in person for the first time. 
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For Lorraine, the event was more than just a Mother’s Day celebration; it was more like a family reunion.
<div id="attachment_27077" style="width: 310px" class="wp-caption alignright"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-27077" src="https://blog-api.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/unnamed-300x200.jpg" alt="" class="size-medium wp-image-27077" width="300" height="200" srcset="https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/unnamed-300x200.jpg 300w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/unnamed.jpg 512w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px" />Lorraine, left, her birth mom Gail, and sister Valerie.</div>
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Lorraine was able to meet not just her birth mother, Gail, but also her birth father David, and one of her full biological sisters Valerie. When Lorraine was born, Gail and David did not think they could not provide for Lorraine and made the difficult decision to place her for adoption. 
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They later married and had two more children, but never forgot about their first child. It was David who used 23andMe, in his effort to find Lorraine. They first connected with Lorraine late last year and spent both Thanksgiving and Christmas with Lorraine and her husband, giving her a chance to meet her siblings, grandparents, aunts, and uncles. The Mother’s Day event offered Lorraine another opportunity to build family memories.
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“I’ve always been curious about where I come from,” said Lorraine, sitting with her birth mom and new found family members.
<div id="attachment_27078" style="width: 310px" class="wp-caption alignright"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-27078" src="https://blog-api.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/23-and-me-190502-0260-300x200.jpg" alt="" class="size-medium wp-image-27078" width="300" height="200" srcset="https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/23-and-me-190502-0260-300x200.jpg 300w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/23-and-me-190502-0260-768x513.jpg 768w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/23-and-me-190502-0260-1024x684.jpg 1024w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/23-and-me-190502-0260-880x587.jpg 880w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/23-and-me-190502-0260-1180x788.jpg 1180w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/23-and-me-190502-0260.jpg 1600w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px" />From right, Isaac, Julie, Ava, Michael, Dale and Sonia.</div>
As with Lorraine, the event for identical twins, Ava and Sonia, was much bigger than just a Mother’s Day brunch. It was the first time that Sonia and Ava were able to come together not only with their biological mother and father, Julie and Dale, but also with their twin brothers Isaac and Michael. Their story is a bit complicated.
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The twin sisters began searching for more information about their biological mother after learning a few years back that their mother, Carla, had used an embryo donor to conceive. Their biological mother, Julie, had been the donor. She and her husband had used IVF to conceive, and after becoming pregnant with their twins, Isaac and Michael, they decided to donate her leftover embryos to other women who were trying to have children.
In meeting their birth mother and father, Ava and Sonia marveled at some of their shared mannerisms and traits.
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“I can already start picking off the similarities between us with the laugh or the different smirks or mannerisms,” their brother Isaac said.
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<div id="attachment_27076" style="width: 310px" class="wp-caption alignright"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-27076" src="https://blog-api.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/2019-05-08-1-300x200.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-27076 size-medium" width="300" height="200" srcset="https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/2019-05-08-1-300x200.jpg 300w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/2019-05-08-1.jpg 512w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px" />We love mom genes. Happy Mother&#8217;s Day.</div>
Both their mothers, Julie and Carla, said they were happy that they have all connected.
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“Now,” their birth mother Julie said, “they have each other.”
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This Mother’s Day, we wanted to celebrate all kinds of mothers — adoptive moms, birth moms, even embryo donor moms. These four families, some of which who had never met before, are now bound because of DNA and through DNA. 
To see all our Mother&#8217;s Day stories go here.
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Have a <a href="https://www.23andme.com/stories/">DNA story</a>? You can share it with us <a href="https://www.23andme.com/stories/#form">here</a>.

23andMe Blog

23andMe Blog Team

Families Come Together For Their First Mother’s Day

Insights gleaned from your DNA can be transformational, but 23andMe results are most powerful when combined with other kinds of information, such as family histories, or observable traits, or sometimes even paper records.
23andMe has seen how our customers have combined their 23andMe<a href="https://www.23andme.com/dna-ancestry/#toc-dnar"> DNA Relatives</a> results, along with family lore, and perhaps a <a href="https://www.23andme.com/topics/ancestry/family-tree/">family tree</a>, to make discoveries about themselves and their ancestry.
<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" src="https://blog-api.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/Ancestry_B_1800x440.jpg" alt="" class="aligncenter wp-image-24194 size-full" width="1800" height="440" srcset="https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/Ancestry_B_1800x440.jpg 1800w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/Ancestry_B_1800x440-300x73.jpg 300w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/Ancestry_B_1800x440-768x188.jpg 768w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/Ancestry_B_1800x440-1024x250.jpg 1024w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/Ancestry_B_1800x440-880x215.jpg 880w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/Ancestry_B_1800x440-1180x288.jpg 1180w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 1800px) 100vw, 1800px" />

To foster these kinds of explorations, 23andMe is piloting a new offer with Legacy Tree Genealogists, a Salt Lake City-based company that specializes in full-service genealogical research for clients worldwide, helping them discover their roots and personal history through records, narratives, and DNA. .
As part of this special offer 23andMe customers can access a 45-minute consultation with a genetic genealogist, meant to help them navigate their 23andMe Ancestry results, and possibly start on a path to trace their lineage or solve a family mystery.
The consultation, which costs $100, will assist those 23andMe customers who want to do a bit more with their genetic ancestry results. Whether it’s searching for a long lost relative, a biological parent or merely filling in the gaps of one’s family tree, we hope this pilot program will help.
The consultation will focus on customers’ 23andMe Ancestry results, and during the session, customers will have to share their screen with the professional from Legacy Tree Genealogists. 
Customers can find out more about this pilot offer by clicking on the Legacy Tree Genealogists banner located under the Next Steps section on their <a href="https://you.23andme.com/ancestry/">Ancestry Overview</a>.
Not yet a customer? Find out more about 23andMe’s Ancestry Service <a href="https://www.23andme.com/dna-ancestry/">here</a>.
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23andMe collaborates with Legacy Tree Genealogists

Guillaume’s dad once referred to him in a poem as “my son of three fathers,” but he should have written: “My son of three fathers and three mothers.”
<div id="attachment_26997" style="width: 310px" class="wp-caption alignright"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-26997" src="https://blog-api.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/Guillaume-Bordier-300x214.png" alt="" class="size-medium wp-image-26997" width="300" height="214" srcset="https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/Guillaume-Bordier-300x214.png 300w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/Guillaume-Bordier.png 512w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px" />Guillaume Bordier</div>
His parents adopted him during the final years of the war in Vietnam. After they divorced, he added a stepdad and stepmom to his family. But Guillaume also had an unknown third father and mother. All he knew was that his birth father was likely an African American serviceman, and his birth mom was Vietnamese.
Raised in France, Guillaume was the only dark-skinned boy in his school. He went on to become a virtuoso ballet dancer and choreographer but always wrestled with his identity and a desire to know more about his origins.
“Because of my physical characteristics, I knew that I was part Vietnamese and part African-American,” Guillaume said. “But I knew nothing else.”
<h6>Searching</h6>
Although Guillaume’s father once said, his son’s “eyes reflect the light of every corner of the world,” Guillaume did not feel connected in that way.
“I always wondered who I was, and what my real origins were,” he said. “And as an adopted child, no matter what we say, we are always looking for our roots.”
Opening up his 23andMe Ancestry Composition results for the first time, with it’s mosaic of colors representing the global regions from which his DNA originated, gave Guillaume another tangible representation of who he was and where he was from. And it opened up a door into the mysteries of his origins.
His arresting story of discovery, documented in a film directed by Jésus Castro-Ortega called &#8220;<a href="http://www.andanafilms.com/catalogueFiche.php?idFiche=1254&#038;rub=Nouveaut%C3%A9">In Balance</a>,&#8221; was first shown last summer on French National television. An English-subtitled version, distributed by Andana Films in the US, is now streaming on Amazon Prime and<a href="https://link.tubi.tv/0oiLXvgRMV"> Tubi</a>.
The opening scenes of the film include Guillaume seeing his 23andMe results for the first time.
“It changed the course of my life,” he said.
<h6>The Wolf Cub</h6>
The French couple who’d adopted Guillaume Bordier worried that he might not survive.
<div id="attachment_26998" style="width: 232px" class="wp-caption alignright"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-26998" src="https://blog-api.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/Guillaume-at-Orphanage-222x300.png" alt="" class="size-medium wp-image-26998" width="222" height="300" srcset="https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/Guillaume-at-Orphanage-222x300.png 222w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/Guillaume-at-Orphanage.png 379w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 222px) 100vw, 222px" />Photo of Guillaume at a Vietnamese orphanage before his adoption.</div>
Malnourished, the 14-month-old weighed just 14 pounds and was in wretched physical condition. Sickly and slight for his age, his mother nursed him back to health. The young Guillaume was like an “abandoned wolf cub,” she once said.
At first, Guillaume, who would go on to become a powerful, and graceful ballet dancer, struggled just to walk. He didn’t take his first steps until he was two-and-a-half. Beyond those physical obstacles, Guillaume had to overcome the challenges put in front of him due to the color of his skin.
“Ballet dancing was, in France at that time, a solely white universe,” he said.
Yet dance was everything to him.
“I could have been someone who is violent,” Guillaume said. “But dance saved me. It was my therapy for every situation.”
His father at one point forbade him from dancing saying ballet is “not for boys.” So Guillaume would draw elaborate storyboards of the dances he had already memorized, complete with the positioning of every dancer, their names, and, of course, his role in the production.
That early obsession became his profession as Guillaume went on to dance in New York and Paris. Over time he added choreographer to his job title. But in the last few years, as Guillaume neared 50, the questions around his origins became more persistent. He often thought of where he’d come from, about the war, and what it must have been like for his birth mother to give him up.
<div id="attachment_26999" style="width: 310px" class="wp-caption alignright"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-26999" src="https://blog-api.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/Guillaume-and-His-Mother-300x300.png" alt="" class="size-medium wp-image-26999" width="300" height="300" srcset="https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/Guillaume-and-His-Mother-300x300.png 300w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/Guillaume-and-His-Mother-150x150.png 150w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/Guillaume-and-His-Mother-271x271.png 271w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/Guillaume-and-His-Mother-372x372.png 372w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/Guillaume-and-His-Mother.png 449w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px" />Guillaume and his mother in France.</div>
In dreams he imagined that moment and what she might have said as she left her baby:
“’You will grow up not knowing your mother and father,’” he imagined her saying to him. “’You will keep wondering if we’re dead or alive. My son I won’t be there but here is your life.’”
<h6>My Brother?</h6>
Both nervous and excited Guillaume and his partner, Francois, sat down one night in 2016 to look at his 23andMe results for the first time. Anxious he didn’t know what to expect.
“Ever since I learned you could use DNA testing to find your origins I’ve wanted to do it,” Guillaume said.
His first reaction to the results was awe. 
“Incredible,” he said when he saw the colorful wheel representing the regions to which his DNA connected him.
<div id="attachment_27000" style="width: 302px" class="wp-caption alignright"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-27000" src="https://blog-api.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/Guillaumes-AC-292x300.png" alt="" class="size-medium wp-image-27000" width="292" height="300" srcset="https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/Guillaumes-AC-292x300.png 292w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/Guillaumes-AC.png 394w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 292px) 100vw, 292px" />Guillaume&#8217;s Ancestry Composition includes the rich mix of his African American and Vietnamese roots.</div>
Guillaume saw the large chunk of West Africa ancestry he inherited from his African American birth father, who also passed on to him a small but significant amount of European ancestry. He was surprised to learn that along with his Vietnamese ancestry from his birth mother he inherited a large amount of Chinese and Chinese Dai ancestry. The African and European half of his ancestry came from his father, and the Vietnamese and Chinese came from his mother.
“So I’m half American,” he said at one point after absorbing it all.
But it was when he looked at his <a href="https://www.23andme.com/dna-ancestry/">DNA Relatives</a> that he stopped short. At the top was a connection to a man he’d never met but with whom he shares about a quarter of his DNA.
“My brother,” he said and then corrected himself. “My half brother. This is so intense…Can you imagine?”
<h6>Back Into the Matrix</h6>
Guillaume marveled at the odds of finding his brother, Joe.
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Joe was also born in Vietnam, but almost four years after Guillaume. He’d also been given up after birth, but in his case, he’d been raised by an elderly woman in his village. When he turned 18, he was able to come to the United States.
Guillaume and Joe finally connected via email and then talked on the phone. Joe, who now lives in Tennessee with his family, was able to tell Guillaume that he has at least seven siblings who are all from the same mother. 
Most striking of all for Guillaume was that their mother was still alive, and had fled Vietnam to live in the United States. Joe could in turn introduce Guillaume to their mother, as well as a half-sister who both live in New Orleans.
Not long after that, he connected with her for the first time in an emotional video chat. At one point he broke down crying trying to explain to her what he is feeling.
“Mom, mom,” he said. “I’ve been searching for you all my life mom.”
A few months later, Guillaume comes to the US for a visit and drives with Joe to visit with their mother. In the days leading up the meeting, Guillaume felt he was living in an altered reality. He couldn’t sleep; he couldn’t help but go back over his life, thinking about everything, almost reviewing his existence in rewind.
“I’m starting over, going back into the matrix,” he said.
<h6>Like a Hurricane</h6>
Nothing is completely clear — the sequence of events, the names, and places — but sitting with his birth mother after their first emotional meeting Guillaume begins to get the first sketchy details of his origins. She spoke in broken English and sometimes in Vietnamese that was translated by her daughter, and Guillaume’s half-sister, Phung.
Their mother worked in the laundry near Camp Tien Sha, a Naval base in Danang that housed a battalion of Marines. Guillaume’s father was a young Marine.
<div id="attachment_27001" style="width: 310px" class="wp-caption alignright"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-27001" src="https://blog-api.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/Guillaume-Birth-Mom-300x284.png" alt="" class="size-medium wp-image-27001" width="300" height="284" srcset="https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/Guillaume-Birth-Mom-300x284.png 300w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/Guillaume-Birth-Mom-768x726.png 768w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/Guillaume-Birth-Mom-1024x968.png 1024w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/Guillaume-Birth-Mom-880x832.png 880w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/Guillaume-Birth-Mom-1180x1116.png 1180w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/Guillaume-Birth-Mom.png 1438w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px" />Guillaume and his birth mother after meeting for the first time.</div>
They had started as friends but soon turned into something more. They were together for a few months in 1968 and 1969, she said.
“He looked like you,” she told Guillaume, adding that his skin was lighter like his, and that, “everybody loved him.”
Sometimes he would stay with her, she told him. Sometimes he’d be gone on missions for many days or weeks, and she would not see him. Then one day she was told he died in combat. She was devastated. She soon discovered she was pregnant.
Some of those details were comforting to hear, but Guillaume also had so many more questions.
What was his name? She wasn’t sure, John or James perhaps. She didn’t know his rank or his age. She wasn’t sure the date of his death or where.
She told Guillaume that after she’d heard the news, she became distraught and later became ill. When Guillaume was born both she and the new baby were sick, and they both began losing weight, she told him. At some point, she left him with a family that she trusted to care for him so that she could work in Saigon. When she returned they were gone, and unbeknownst to her had taken Guillaume to an orphanage.
That detail was important for Guillaume because he believed it meant she’d never abandoned him. She’d told him that she’d gone back and searched for him. She’d bike the countryside looking. His sister, Phung said that their mother never stopped thinking about him.
“You have to understand that Vietnamese people cherish boys,” she said.
Their mother had never stopped praying that she’d find him, and then like a miracle, he finds her.
It’s all a bit overwhelming and unbelievable. Guillaume didn&#8217;t just find his mother, but seven siblings.
“It’s like a hurricane in the brain,” he said. “An emotional (hurricane) Katrina. I didn’t expect that.”
<h6>I Think I Am Your Son</h6>
You can’t answer five decades of questions in one week, Guillaume said.
When he returned to France Guillaume shared photos of his trip with his adopted mother.
His mom immediately felt sympathy toward the woman who gave him up so long ago.
“This must have reminded her of a lot of things she wanted to forget,” Guillaume’s mother told him. “She must have thought you were dead. Can you imagine? She is very strong.”
But as the weeks and months went on after his visit, more questions emerged. Was his father really dead?
<div id="attachment_27004" style="width: 224px" class="wp-caption alignright"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-27004" src="https://blog-api.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/Guillaume-3-214x300.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-27004 size-medium" width="214" height="300" srcset="https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/Guillaume-3-214x300.jpg 214w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/Guillaume-3-768x1076.jpg 768w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/Guillaume-3-731x1024.jpg 731w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/Guillaume-3-628x880.jpg 628w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/Guillaume-3-843x1180.jpg 843w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/Guillaume-3-scaled.jpg 1828w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 214px) 100vw, 214px" />Guillaume is still search, trying to find the identity of his birth father.</div>
“I can’t be certain,” he said. 
Months after his visit he found another half-sister living in Texas, but closer to him in age. They met in person in the summer of 2018.
Guillaume found a few second and third cousins on his birth father’s side, but so far no insights into his birth father’s name or whether he died in Vietnam or not. He found the name of a young African American Marine, James Albert Sanders, who’d been killed in combat in May of 1969, and left a note on the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund “Wall of Faces.”
“Maybe you are my father,” Guillaume wrote. “If you are my father, I want you to know that I always looked for you. If you are my father, let me tell you that I am very, very proud to be your son … I became not a soldier but a soloist ballet dancer &#8230; If you are my father, let me tell you that I miss you so much and I love you with all my heart.”
&nbsp;

Guillaume’s Search

Caroline Wallis, 23andMe Content Writer, Ancestry Product Team 
<div id="attachment_26919" style="width: 235px" class="wp-caption alignright"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-26919" src="https://blog-api.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/image2-225x300.jpeg" alt="" class="wp-image-26919 size-medium" width="225" height="300" srcset="https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/image2-225x300.jpeg 225w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/image2-768x1024.jpeg 768w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/image2-660x880.jpeg 660w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/image2-885x1180.jpeg 885w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/image2.jpeg 1536w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 225px) 100vw, 225px" />A photo of Mike in front of Bunratty Castle in County Clare, near the Shannon Airport. </div>
Messaging a distant cousin through <a href="https://www.23andme.com/dna-ancestry/#dnarelatives">23andMe’s DNA Relatives </a>can feel like a leap of faith, a shot in the dark. You hope a message doesn’t fall on uninterested eyes. You hope it is read by someone like Mike Farragher, an offbeat writer from New Jersey. You hope for someone like <a href="https://www.irishcentral.com/opinion/cahirodoherty/mike-farragher-brings-ireland-and-irish-america-together-in-his-latest-story-collection">Mike</a>, particularly when you are looking for your ancestral connections to Ireland. 
&nbsp;
For Mike, opening one of these messages also holds its own unknowns. Indeed he could never have predicted the profound impact one message from a cousin (and its many consecutive ones) would have on his life, which has always included ties to his roots in Ireland. 
&nbsp;
A second-generation Irish American, Mike grew up listening to his father’s thick Irish brogue and visiting the Emerald Isle every other year to see his grandparents. Mike’s father was one of 10 siblings. As a result, Mike had strong family connections both here and in Ireland, and he wasn’t searching for any more. His first story collection, <a href="http://www.thisisyourbrainonshamrocks.com/">This is Your Brain on Shamrocks</a>, tapped into his Irish American upbringing. Mike, who works as a vice president for sales at a laboratory company when he’s not writing, thought he knew all about his big Irish family.
&nbsp;
Then, he got his first message from a DNA Relative on 23andMe. A cousin, Bethany*, found Mike in the process of doing her own advanced genealogical research. She had discovered evidence that they were related through his paternal side. Mike later connected with Bethany’s four sisters and other cousins, and soon learned that he was everyone’s closest living connection to Ireland. 
<div id="attachment_26818" style="width: 310px" class="wp-caption alignright"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-26818" src="https://blog-api.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/Ireland-300x178.png" alt="" class="wp-image-26818 size-medium" width="300" height="178" srcset="https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/Ireland-300x178.png 300w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/Ireland-768x456.png 768w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/Ireland-880x523.png 880w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/Ireland.png 993w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px" />Using 23andMe&#8217;s Ancestry Composition tool, you can dig deeper and find where you have DNA in common with more people who report ancestry from those regions.</div>
“These ‘new’ cousins have been robbed of a few decades of that connection and are now making up for lost time,” Mike said. 
&nbsp;
Eager to share that connection with newfound family, Mike connected these cousins with other Irish family members, leading to a mini-reunion in Ireland for Mike’s father’s 80th birthday. 
&nbsp;
Laughing, Mike recalls his dad saying, “Don’t you think they’re after your money?[&#8230;]You better watch out for all these charlatans hiding in all the corners of the dark web!” 
&nbsp;
On the contrary, several of these cousins (many of whom are elderly) started crying upon hearing a brogue made familiar to them by their parents. Hungry to learn more about their ancestral birthplace, Mike’s new relatives would ask questions he had never thought to ask, helping Mike rediscover his own roots in a new way. 
&nbsp;
“I always knew who my family was but it is a lot of fun to watch others discover my family in this way,” Mike said. “Like discovering your life through your children’s eyes, I would liken this experience to much the same thing.”
&nbsp;
A natural storyteller, Mike has explored his Irish roots through his writing, and he even met a cousin while on a book tour. Mike likes to think that he carries on the legacies of Ireland’s famous writers, to keep the memory of his Irish ancestors alive, as well as to capture the contemporary stories of the Irish diaspora. And it all began with meeting a few cousins through 23andMe. 
&nbsp;
As Mike works on his next book — a novel inspired in part by his experience meeting his cousins — we marvel at the watershed power of one tentative message sent on the DNA Relatives platform. Mike is a cousin, a steward, and a storyteller, but also a historian keeping alive the stories of his family. 
&nbsp;
Follow along on Mike’s  entertaining adventures on his <a href="http://mikefarragher.blogspot.com/">blog</a>.
&nbsp;
*The names of Mike’s cousins have been changed to protect their privacy.

The Irish Connection

When it comes to calculating 23andMe customers’ Ancestry Composition results, details are invariably what matter most: more specificity, more interactivity, more <img loading="lazy" decoding="async" src="https://blog-api.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/Ancestry-Overview-Square-300x297.png" alt="" class="alignright size-medium wp-image-26832" width="300" height="297" srcset="https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/Ancestry-Overview-Square-300x297.png 300w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/Ancestry-Overview-Square-150x150.png 150w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/Ancestry-Overview-Square-768x759.png 768w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/Ancestry-Overview-Square-1024x1012.png 1024w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/Ancestry-Overview-Square-880x870.png 880w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/Ancestry-Overview-Square-1180x1166.png 1180w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/Ancestry-Overview-Square.png 1212w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px" />opportunities to draw meaning about how we are all genetically connected to people around the globe. 
In service to this idea, 23andMe has added a trove of content-rich new pages called Ancestry Detail Reports, which offer a more granular view of your ancestry, snapshots of the places and people to which your DNA connects you, and more. This update comes in tandem with an array of improvements and new features to the <a href="https://www.23andme.com/dna-ancestry">Ancestry experience</a>, including a new interactive map of your <a href="https://www.23andme.com/dna-ancestry/">DNA Relatives</a> and enhanced look and feel on mobile and desktop.
We are now offering more than 30 new population-specific pages called Ancestry Detail Reports, as well as evaluating each customer’s ancestry based on more than 1,000 specific regions. 
Ancestry Detail Reports provide a closer look at each of the global populations currently included in our Ancestry Composition feature, enabling customers to explore their own genetic heritage while also learning about other populations included in Ancestry Composition. The creation of this additional layer of detail comes in direct response to requests from our customers for more granularity and additional content in Ancestry Composition.
<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" src="https://blog-api.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/ac_pop@3x-992x1024.png" alt="" class="aligncenter wp-image-26813 size-large" title="Ancestry Composition and Ancestry in Detail Pages" width="992" height="1024" srcset="https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/ac_pop@3x-992x1024.png 992w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/ac_pop@3x-291x300.png 291w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/ac_pop@3x-768x793.png 768w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/ac_pop@3x-852x880.png 852w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/ac_pop@3x-1143x1180.png 1143w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 992px) 100vw, 992px" />

<div style="float: right; text-align: justified; width: 350px; background-color: #eee; padding: 15px; margin-left: 10px;">
<h6 style="text-align: center;"> Improvements to 23andMe’s Ancestry Experience</h6>
<ul>
<li>30+ new Ancestry Detail Reports with regional maps for our most refined view of your ancestry.</li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li>1000+ regions now included in Ancestry Composition.</li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li><a href="https://you.23andme.com/tools/relatives/map/">Interactive map</a> of where your DNA Relatives call home.</li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li><a href="https://you.23andme.com/ancestry/">Ancestry Overview</a> on desktop and mobile functions like a homepage for all your Ancestry reports, enabling exploration and discovery. </li>
</ul>
<ul></ul>

<ul>
<li>
More African and East Asian populations now available for all customers (first released in September 2018).</li>
</ul>
</div>
<h6></h6>
If you are a 23andMe customer, you can find your specific Ancestry Detail Reports (and explore all possible Ancestry Detail Reports) in a few ways. 
<ul>
<li>The easiest path is navigating to your <a href="https://you.23andme.com/ancestry/">Ancestry Overview</a> and clicking on each featured population under your Ancestry Composition summary. </li>
<li>You can also find these pages by clicking on the <a href="https://you.23andme.com/ancestry/all-reports/">All Reports</a> tab in your Ancestry Overview and looking under Ancestry Composition. There, you can easily view all of the more than 30 new reports and learn more about the diverse populations included in Ancestry Composition. </li>
</ul>
On the 23andMe Mobile Apps, you should see a list of featured populations under your Ancestry Composition results in the Ancestry tab. 
&nbsp;
<h6>A Deeper Dive</h6>
Let’s take a deeper dive into the Ancestry Detail Reports, and learn more about what you’ll discover when you view them. 
&nbsp;
If you’ve been assigned one or more “Recent Ancestor Locations” — these are indicated by the country and territory names you may see listed in your Ancestry Composition summary — you will also likely receive a more detailed map of your results on the associated Ancestry Detail Report. These maps may include the specific states or even counties where we have found evidence of your family’s recent ancestry. The stronger the evidence of a given ancestry, the  higher ranking on the adjacent list and darker the shading is for that region. This new “live” map with specific regional breakdowns will continuously update over time to reflect the growing number of individuals from around the world in 23andMe’s database. 
<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" src="https://blog-api.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/maps@3x-1024x473.png" alt="" class="aligncenter wp-image-26822 size-large" title="Ancestry in Detail, India and China" width="1024" height="473" srcset="https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/maps@3x-1024x473.png 1024w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/maps@3x-300x139.png 300w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/maps@3x-768x355.png 768w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/maps@3x-880x407.png 880w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/maps@3x-1180x545.png 1180w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" />
&nbsp;
A number of the Ancestry Detail Reports contain immersive educational materials that provide further context around each population’s genetics, demographics, history, and more. Curated and written by 23andMe’s scientists, these materials aim to help customers learn important information about their genetic ancestry. These reports can also be used to learn about diverse populations with which you are not genetically connected, but may be curious about.
<h6><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" src="https://blog-api.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/genetics@3x-1024x630.png" alt="" class="aligncenter wp-image-26817 size-large" title="Hunter Gathers and Ashkenazi" width="1024" height="630" srcset="https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/genetics@3x-1024x630.png 1024w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/genetics@3x-300x184.png 300w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/genetics@3x-768x472.png 768w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/genetics@3x-880x541.png 880w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/genetics@3x-1180x726.png 1180w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" />Snapshots</h6>
Another layer to the Ancestry Detail Reports are Snapshots — a handful of researched and reported stories that provide glimpses into the many nuances that make each ancestral population unique. Snapshot topics include: Talk the Talk (words and phrases unique to one of the languages spoken by each population), Ancestry Eats (traditional foods and beverages), Sights to See (off-the-beaten-path travel tips and important landmarks), Natural Wonders, Celebrations, Crafts &amp; Traditions, and more. We encourage customers to contribute ideas for future Snapshots by clicking on the Customer Feedback bar located at the bottom of each Ancestry Detail Report. 
<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" src="https://blog-api.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/snapshots@3x-1014x1024.png" alt="" class="aligncenter wp-image-26830 size-large" title="Snapshots, Sudan and Southeast Asia" width="1014" height="1024" srcset="https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/snapshots@3x-1014x1024.png 1014w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/snapshots@3x-150x150.png 150w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/snapshots@3x-297x300.png 297w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/snapshots@3x-768x775.png 768w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/snapshots@3x-872x880.png 872w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/snapshots@3x-1169x1180.png 1169w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 1014px) 100vw, 1014px" />Lastly, at the bottom of each Ancestry Detail Report, customers who have chosen to participate in the DNA Relatives tool can view their relatives who share ancestry from that particular population. For example, a customer with 20 percent Italian ancestry or 55 percent Vietnamese ancestry would see the profile names and profile images of some of their relatives connected to those populations. The content on each Ancestry Detail Report may provide inspiration for starting a conversation with those relatives about your genetic heritage. 
&nbsp;
This new paradigm for exploring Ancestry results on a deeper, more actionable level will set the standard for future updates to the Ancestry Composition experience. Since Ancestry Composition is truly a “living analysis” of your DNA that reflects our growing database, 23andMe will continue to update the  Ancestry Detail Reports at a county and state-level to provide an ever-closer view of your ancestry. Though country and territory maps may not yet be available for every customer, our intent is that this will change as our database continues to expand and diversify.
&nbsp;
23andMe customers can go to their <a href="https://you.23andme.com/ancestry/">Ancestry Overview</a> to start exploring. Not yet a customer? Find out more about 23andMe’s Ancestry service <a href="https://www.23andme.com/dna-ancestry/">here</a>.

More Regions for Most Refined View of Ancestry To-Date

<div id="attachment_26752" style="width: 236px" class="wp-caption alignright"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-26752" src="https://blog-api.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/Brian-JJ-226x300.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-26752 size-medium" width="226" height="300" srcset="https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/Brian-JJ-226x300.jpg 226w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/Brian-JJ.jpg 385w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 226px) 100vw, 226px" />Brian, left, and his brother JJ, with whom he recently connected.</div>
&#8220;What&#8217;s going on, my brother?&#8221; said Brian Chavarria. &#8220;Man, it is good to see you.&#8221;
These were Brian’s first words to his newfound biological brother, JJ Peck when they met earlier this year. This life changing moment at the John Glenn International Airport was the culmination of years of ups and downs for Brian, and a lifetime of searching for answers about his biological family. 
Brian Chavarria was born in Dayton, Ohio, but raised in California by his adoptive parents. All he knew of his origins was that as newborn he’d been &nbsp;dropped off on a doorstep in California. He’d been adopted when he was three years old. Life didn’t come easy for Brian growing up in an abusive household in East Los Angeles. He eventually fled that abusive home by bike, and made contact with a foster family he had lived with as a child who took him back in. 
Brian never really knew where he came from or anything about &nbsp;his biological family.
At least not until his wife tried <a href="http://www.23andMe.com">23andMe</a> and then encouraged him to use 23andMe as well. 
“What could it hurt?” he thought.
After years of search unsuccessfully, Brian had given up on finding his birth mother or father. But after four decades of not knowing anything about his birth family — not even their ancestry — his results came back with information not just about his <a href="https://www.23andme.com/dna-ancestry/">ancestry</a> but also about <a href="https://www.23andme.com/dna-ancestry/#toc-dnar">distant cousins</a>. Six months later, he received an email. It was from a first cousin, who sent a message that &nbsp;said: &#8220;This shows you are my first cousin. Tell me your story.”
He shared his backstory, and his cousin messaged back that he would talk to his mom and ask her if she knew anything that would help. Soon thereafter, Brian got another message from his cousin:
“Actually, I think I can fill you in,” his cousin said. 
What followed was something out of Brian’s dreams. After connecting with his cousin, Brian started to learn more about his family, and learn that his family had been looking for him too. He learned that his birth mother had suffered from mental illness, which led to her needing to give Brian up for adoption. 
What he learned next led to him breaking down in tears. His birth mother had passed away in 2015, before he had had a chance to meet her. 
“I was so close, yet so far,” Brian said. 
Then, Brian’s cousin dropped another bombshell. Brian had two brothers and two sisters who had similar troubled childhoods and had been raised by different families. A few of these siblings had been searching for him too. Since connecting with his cousin this past May, Brian has started to build relationships with his biological siblings. Their bond grew so strong that his brother JJ drove to Portland and helped move him back to his home state of Ohio, the place where he was born and where his story began. Since moving to Ohio, he began working with JJ at a drug and alcohol rehabilitation center where they are trying to make a difference in the lives of others. 
“It’s a start of a whole new world really. I get to spend it with my brother and it doesn’t get much better than that.”

A Reunion Decades in the Making

<div id="attachment_26720" style="width: 304px" class="wp-caption alignright"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-26720" src="https://blog-api.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/Yadira-2-294x300.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-26720 size-medium" width="294" height="300" srcset="https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/Yadira-2-294x300.jpg 294w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/Yadira-2.jpg 618w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 294px) 100vw, 294px" />Yadira Riveria in an undated photo.</div>
Yadira Rivera, a strong independent woman, always told her three young children about the daughter she gave up before they were born.
&nbsp;
Her children — Daniel, Marcos, and Raquel — never forgot that they had another sister out there. They remembered, even after the trauma of losing their mom. Yadira died after being struck by a police car chasing a suspect on the street in front of their home in San Francisco. They were young — 8,9 and 11 — but they remembered their mother’s reflective tone as she told them about having to give up her infant daughter.
&nbsp;
“Whenever she talked about it she got very somber,” said Daniel.
&nbsp;
They learned that Yadira had gotten pregnant at 17, and was forced to give up her baby. Daniel, Marcos, and Raquel always knew their sister was out there somewhere, they just had no idea how to find her.
&nbsp;
“We said ‘we could meet her one day and not even know it was her,’” Daniel said.
<div id="attachment_26727" style="width: 310px" class="wp-caption alignright"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-26727" src="https://blog-api.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/Lucianna-Her-Siblings-300x300.png" alt="" class="size-medium wp-image-26727" width="300" height="300" srcset="https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/Lucianna-Her-Siblings-300x300.png 300w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/Lucianna-Her-Siblings-150x150.png 150w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/Lucianna-Her-Siblings-271x271.png 271w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/Lucianna-Her-Siblings-372x372.png 372w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/Lucianna-Her-Siblings-574x574.png 574w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/Lucianna-Her-Siblings.png 640w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px" />On the left, Lucianna, as a young girl, on the right Yadira with her children, Daniel, Raquel, and Marcos.</div>
<h6>The Search</h6>
They always hoped that somehow they might find her. Little did they know that their older sister was looking and wondering too.  

But Lucianna didn’t know she had a sister and two brothers. She was trying to find her mother.
&nbsp;
Adopted by the daughter of the nurse who delivered her as a baby, Lucianna spent years wondering about her birth mother. She didn’t start looking in earnest until about eight years ago. At that time, she found names scribbled on the back of an her adoptive grandfather’s old business card. On it were the names of her birth parents and the the aunt her birth mother lived with in San Francisco.   Lucianna hired a private investigator who found an old address, and Lucianna sent a letter there but never heard back. 

“After I sent the letter I just stopped looking,” she said.

But last year with her daughter Bianca asking more and more questions, and finally asking if they could use 23andMe to find out more about her mother’s ancestry, the search was reignited. Lucianna bought her daughter a kit as well as one for herself. Using other resources, Bianca was able to find Lucianna’s mother’s citizenship papers, divorce records and then her record of death. That last bit of information was a huge blow to Lucianna. She thought that was the end of her search.

“I had to emotionally let go,” she said, realizing that she would never get to meet her birth mom. 

<h6>Finding A Connection</h6>
<div id="attachment_26724" style="width: 310px" class="wp-caption alignright"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-26724" src="https://blog-api.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/ms-9VJNpZ-225x300.jpeg" alt="" class="wp-image-26724" width="300" height="400" srcset="https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/ms-9VJNpZ-225x300.jpeg 225w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/ms-9VJNpZ-768x1024.jpeg 768w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/ms-9VJNpZ-660x880.jpeg 660w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/ms-9VJNpZ.jpeg 800w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px" />In the foreground Raquel, with, Marcos, left, Lucianna and on the right Daniel soon after all meeting in person for the first time.</div>
But just a couple of weeks later, Bianca’s <a href="https://www.23andme.com/dna-ancestry/">23andMe</a> results came in. Bianca saw that she matched with a man named Daniel, who at first was predicted to be a close cousin. He had also posted on 23andMe that he was looking for more information about his mother’s family who had come to the United States from Nicaragua, but had since passed away. 
Lucianna, who had not initially opted into the DNA Relatives portion of 23andMe, opted in and immediately matched with Daniel, who was identified as a half brother. It was a surprise for both of them.
&nbsp;
Daniel said he hadn’t expected to find any close family when he first tested. He wanted to know more about his mother’s ancestral origins. 

“My twin girls … decided to purchase 23andMe for me as a Christmas present,” Daniel said. “I wanted more information about my Nicaraguan heritage. I had many unanswered questions, and I couldn’t go straight to the source.”
&nbsp;
Daniel said he hadn’t expected to find any close family when he first tested. He wanted to know more about his mother’s ancestral origins. 

“My twin girls … decided to purchase 23andMe for me as a Christmas present,” Daniel said. “I wanted more information about my Nicaraguan heritage. I had many unanswered questions, and I couldn’t go straight to the source.”

“She read my story and commented on how (the information about my mom) resembled her mother&#8217;s mother,” Daniel said.

Although the percentage of shared DNA indicated that Bianca might be a first cousin, Daniel noted her age, the amount of shared DNA and her Nicaraguan ancestry, and deduced that it could only mean one thing. 

“After a few more messages I told Bianca that her mother might be my sister,” he said, still a little stunned by finding his long lost sister.

&nbsp;
<h6>Meeting for the First Time</h6>
Luciana and Daniel were soon on the phone. 

“The first thing he said was ‘I’ve always known you were out there,’” Lucianna said.

Just that idea alone was affirming for Lucianna, knowing that her birth mother loved her and passed that love for her to her children.

Daniel, who was already driving to California with his wife for their 20th anniversary, decided to take a detour to Davis to meet Lucianna and her family. When they first hugged, Daniel said it felt like he was holding onto a piece of his mother.

A month later, a few days from the 40th anniversary of their mother’s death, <a href="https://www.dayton.com/lifestyles/alone-more-centerville-woman-and-family-unite-with-sister-they-always-knew-was-out-there-somewhere/hy2LK54pJtGu2z8NLjQpII/">Lucianna was in Ohio</a> with her children, visiting with Daniel, Marcos, Raquel, and all her new nieces and nephews.

“It’s been beyond belief,” said Daniel.

Lucianna looks so much like their mother that when they first hugged he didn’t want to let go. For Lucianna seeing the photos of her mother for the first time, seeing her eyes instantly connected her. Meeting and getting to know her siblings has transformed her.<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" src="https://blog-api.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/Note-to-their-mom-300x169.png" alt="" class="alignright size-medium wp-image-26728" width="300" height="169" srcset="https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/Note-to-their-mom-300x169.png 300w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/Note-to-their-mom.png 640w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px" />

”This has completely changed my life,” Lucianna said. “I am 53 years old. I feel so different. I feel rooted.”

As they gathered together one evening talking back and forth, Lucianna felt almost like they were all children again.

During the freewheeling conversation the lights kept dimming and Marcos said, ‘Oh it’s just the motion sensor,’ and Lucianna said, “No it’s mom.” 

All of Yadira’s children were finally together like they should be, like she had always wanted.

23andMe Reunites Yadira’s Family

23andMe The Perfect Gift for the Holidays

You’ve watched the first batch of 23andMe’s new video series, <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sw4rQoo2TiY&#038;list=PLFvkfbvHpp1nPvSN-Bjg2z2WIvCwDviHO">The DNA Download</a>, and now you want to go a little deeper. In this next collection a few of our scientists and specialists will walk you through the basics of DNA testing for ancestry.<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" src="https://blog-api.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/Screen-Shot-2018-09-19-at-4.48.09-PM-300x168.png" alt="" class="alignright size-medium wp-image-26584" width="300" height="168" srcset="https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/Screen-Shot-2018-09-19-at-4.48.09-PM-300x168.png 300w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/Screen-Shot-2018-09-19-at-4.48.09-PM-768x430.png 768w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/Screen-Shot-2018-09-19-at-4.48.09-PM-1024x573.png 1024w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/Screen-Shot-2018-09-19-at-4.48.09-PM-880x493.png 880w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/Screen-Shot-2018-09-19-at-4.48.09-PM-1180x661.png 1180w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/Screen-Shot-2018-09-19-at-4.48.09-PM.png 1434w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px" />
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As with the first set of videos, these next four episodes are also hosted by Halleta Alemu, and are meant spark your curiosity about DNA testing and what you can learn. At 23andMe we believe that anyone can understand the fascinating science of genetics.
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What makes this next set of videos so interesting is that they show you how exploring your DNA can inform you not just about your ancestry, but how your story fits into the broader human story.
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<h6><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8vnf8uJASI8&#038;list=PLFvkfbvHpp1nPvSN-Bjg2z2WIvCwDviHO&#038;index=2">THERE’S SOMETHING ABOUT NEANDERTHALS </a></h6>
In this video Alexandra Langston, a 23andMe Customer Operations Specialist, introduces us to our favorite human cousin, the Neanderthals. Most modern humans still carry Neanderthal DNA, which you can learn through testing.
<iframe loading="lazy" width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/8vnf8uJASI8" frameborder="0" allow="autoplay; encrypted-media" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen"></iframe>
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<h6><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eKCUSMBAI8I&#038;list=PLFvkfbvHpp1nPvSN-Bjg2z2WIvCwDviHO&#038;index=6">WHAT ARE HAPLOGROUPS? </a></h6>
23andMe Ancestry Scientist, Samantha Esselmann, Ph.D., does more than just explain the meaning of the word “haplogroup.” In this video Samantha explains how haplogroups can give you insight into your deep ancestry.
<iframe loading="lazy" width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/eKCUSMBAI8I" frameborder="0" allow="autoplay; encrypted-media" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen"></iframe>
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<h6><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z25Jt1ukXWI&#038;list=PLFvkfbvHpp1nPvSN-Bjg2z2WIvCwDviHO&#038;index=9">SEEING OUR ANCESTRY THROUGH OUR DNA </a></h6>
Erica Bellman, a 23andMe Ancestry Content Writer, explains how scientists unravel your ancestry composition and recent ancestor locations. Learn where all those ancestry percentages come from.
<iframe loading="lazy" width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/Z25Jt1ukXWI" frameborder="0" allow="autoplay; encrypted-media" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen"></iframe>
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<h6><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0HljDiuw6oI&#038;index=7&#038;list=PLFvkfbvHpp1nPvSN-Bjg2z2WIvCwDviHO">MY DNA RELATIVES AND ME </a></h6>
Rounding out this set of videos is Lindsay Grove, a 23andMe Senior Product Specialist, who explains how scientists predict family relationships from our DNA and what it means to be DNA Relatives.
<iframe loading="lazy" width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/0HljDiuw6oI" frameborder="0" allow="autoplay; encrypted-media" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen"></iframe>
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These four videos just hint at some of what you can learn about ancestry through DNA testing. And it’s not just adoptees or others with little information about their family’s ethnicity, but anyone who is curious about their family tree or deep ancestry can find something interesting. And this self-exploration can teach them about the deeper ancestry that connects them to all humans on this planet.
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In the first set of videos you learned some <a href="https://blog.23andme.com/education/the-dna-download-take-one/">basic genetic concepts</a>. This week you learned a little about 23andMe testing for anestry.  Stay tuned for the last batch of videos in The DNA Download series that cover the new and important insights being gleaned by scientists doing genetic research at 23andMe.

DNA Relatives — Page 3