Our customers often share their stories with us, which are both moving and motivating as we get to see the real impact 23andMe results can have in people’s lives.
One such story came in recently from Bev Glaspey of Lake Placid, Florida. Bev called it her ‘Family Christmas Story,’ because it was about the best kind of present, a gift of family.
This is their story.
<div id="attachment_25935" style="width: 1034px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-25935" src="https://blog-api.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/IMG_1636-e1513622666512-1024x609.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-25935 size-large" width="1024" height="609" srcset="https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/IMG_1636-e1513622666512-1024x609.jpg 1024w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/IMG_1636-e1513622666512-300x179.jpg 300w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/IMG_1636-e1513622666512-768x457.jpg 768w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/IMG_1636-e1513622666512-880x524.jpg 880w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/IMG_1636-e1513622666512-1180x702.jpg 1180w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" />At their first meeting in early December, from left to right, Florence&#8217;s half-brother Robin, her daughter Bev, and Florence.</div>
Bev’s mom, Florence Axelson was born in Chicago in 1922, and adopted when she was 1 year-old. For all of her 95 years she had almost no information about her birth family. The one exception was that back in the mid-1970s Florence applied for a passport and in the process she also had to get a copy of her birth certificate.
Getting that document also got Florence the first bit of information about her origins, her biological mother’s name. But when she tried to use that bit of information to get more details about her adoption she hit a brick wall. The records, she was told, had been destroyed in a fire.
There was little more that she had to go on, and over time life got in the way of searching. That didn’t mean it wasn’t something she thought about. In fact, all of her daughters, Bev and Bev’s two sisters, all wondered about their mother’s family. Even simple things, like what their family’s nationality was, remained unknown.
That is until Bev purchased a 23andMe kit for herself and her mom. Bev started exploring their DNA Relatives, finding cousins she never knew she had. The closest was a cousin named Cathy, who was the key to unlocking Florence’s story.
Cathy&#8217;s mom, who is still alive, is Florence’s half-sister.
“Mom found out she was the firstborn child to a young unwed mother,” Bev said.
She learned that she didn’t just have one half sibling, but her biological mother had 12 children in all, three of her half-sisters and one half-brother are still living.
Florence was able to talk to two of her half sisters, and then at 95 she was able to meet her half brother Robin and his wife Kim for the first time when he came in early December to visit her at her assisted living facility.
“I was able to find mom’s birth mother’s family,” Bev said. “This has been a wonderful gift to our family. “

23andMe Blog

23andMe Blog Team

One Family’s 23andMe Christmas Story

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

Thanksgiving is about family. A ritual that weaves together each generation, sharing old memories, making new ones, and seeing in all that, the common heritage we share in our DNA.
A few days ago 23andMe invited about half a dozen families to come together for a holiday dinner and a chance to meet a newfound father, mother, brother or sister for the first time. 
“It’s an emotional thing for me because I always thought I was as an only child,” said Barbara Saunders, just before meeting her sisters Ida Sturgill and Joyce Randall. <img loading="lazy" decoding="async" src="https://blog-api.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/LMW0704-1024x683.jpg" alt="" class="aligncenter size-large wp-image-25902" width="1024" height="683" srcset="https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/LMW0704-1024x683.jpg 1024w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/LMW0704-300x200.jpg 300w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/LMW0704-768x512.jpg 768w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/LMW0704-880x587.jpg 880w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/LMW0704-1180x787.jpg 1180w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" /> The meeting in New York just before Thanksgiving was the culmination of months of talking and email after the sisters had connected using 23andMe. Now they were getting a chance to see each other for the first time.
“I have chills,” said Ida, before Barbara walked in and all three sisters hugged.
Their embrace and disbelief at seeing and touching their newfound sister were much like what rippled through each family that came together.
Standing with her son, Travis, Ida Pollock looked both excited and nervous, as she waited to meet “my son that I gave up for adoption 55 years ago.”
Barrie stood with his son, Alex, pinching himself that this was all possible. As she entered the room and their faces flushed with emotion, he uttered, “Oh my goodness,” and embraced his mom, and then his brother. 
Ida said she felt thankful. Bodie felt overwhelmed.
“To have everything come full circle like this is just beyond being thankful,” he said.
As Natosha Brown walked in and saw her biological father, William, and her four sisters and a niece, her father said he had been searching for her since he’d learned of her birth. 
“I feel like we have 36 years to make up for,” Natosha said. Smiling and crying the sisters embraced. Her father captured the feeling of everyone who was there.
“It’s a blessing and its thanksgiving, so what better time,” he said.
See more about the families that met for the first time using 23andMe <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zY7JOD4eQR0&#038;list=PLFvkfbvHpp1kU9nvguZrZ2Y7nYc8_swVA">here</a>. 
&nbsp;
<iframe loading="lazy" width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/zY7JOD4eQR0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen"></iframe>

23andMe Family Stories for the Holiday

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

Maybe the gap between the Greatest Generation and Generation Z, or the chasm between Baby Boomers and Gen X, isn’t a divide at all; perhaps we just haven’t had the right tools to see the thread that connects us, a thread woven into our very DNA.
October is Family History Month, a time to reflect on where we come from and all those who came before us. 23andMe offers people a different way to learn about themselves and their families, giving families an opportunity to see the DNA they share across generations.
23andMe’s newest tool, GrandTree, allows families to connect deeper across three generations, letting them see the thread that ties grandchildren to their grandparents. 
<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" src="https://blog-api.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/GrandTree-1024x705.jpg" alt="" class="aligncenter size-large wp-image-25777" width="1024" height="705" srcset="https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/GrandTree-1024x705.jpg 1024w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/GrandTree-300x207.jpg 300w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/GrandTree-768x529.jpg 768w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/GrandTree-880x606.jpg 880w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/GrandTree-1180x812.jpg 1180w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/GrandTree.jpg 1188w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" />If a grandchild, and a grandparent are 23andMe customers, and they are sharing their 23andMe results with each other, GrandTree allows them to see more than just the percentage of DNA that they share. It also allows customers the chance to trace a trait through generations. Showing if a grandchild got their red hair largely  from one grandparent or another, for instance. If a grandparent or grandchild hasn’t yet tested, 23andMe makes it easy for customers to invite them to sign up.
<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" src="https://blog-api.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/GrandTree-2-1024x723.jpg" alt="" class="aligncenter size-large wp-image-25776" width="1024" height="723" srcset="https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/GrandTree-2-1024x723.jpg 1024w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/GrandTree-2-300x212.jpg 300w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/GrandTree-2-768x542.jpg 768w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/GrandTree-2-880x621.jpg 880w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/GrandTree-2.jpg 1082w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" />Looking at DNA offers a unique way to connect across generational lines, and the GrandTree tool is just one of many features  23andMe has to do that. Customers can also use 23andMe’s Share and Compare feature to see what traits and ancestry they share with a brother or sister, or their parents, or children. You can even see the overlapping segments on each chromosome that you share. You can go deeper by using the DNA Relatives tool to do something similar but also compare yourself with a parent, grandparent, child, (or anyone you share with), and see detailed segment data.
Beyond that 23andMe’s Ancestry Composition feature, which highlights the mix of places where your ancestors came from, includes a feature that allows you to compare your DNA to your parents’ — if they are using 23andMe — and see a “split view” of what ancestry came from your mother and what came from your father.
When families use 23andMe together, they connect in a different way, tracing the thread of traits, and ancestry, that links child to parent and grandparent, bridging the gap between each generation.
<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" src="https://blog-api.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/GrandTree3-1024x751.jpg" alt="" class="aligncenter size-large wp-image-25775" width="1024" height="751" srcset="https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/GrandTree3-1024x751.jpg 1024w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/GrandTree3-300x220.jpg 300w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/GrandTree3-768x563.jpg 768w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/GrandTree3-880x645.jpg 880w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/GrandTree3.jpg 1042w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" />

Connecting Generations with 23andMe’s GrandTree

When Ryan’s mother and father adopted him as an infant, there was a typewritten note slipped into his adoption records with a message from his birth parents:
“We pray that you are happy,” it said.
For most of his 36 years, Ryan has been happy, and for most of his life, he’s been searching for his birth parents to tell them that in person.
“I was [happy]. I am, and I always will be,” Ryan said recently.
This year on his birthday, after all those decades of searching, he typed out his own message listing the reasons he feels blessed. At the end of that list he said this:
“Today, July 29th, my family and I met my birth parents and their families,” Ryan wrote. “Today, on my birthday … for the very first time I can see them, hug them, and tell them ‘Thank You,’ which is the greatest birthday gift that I could ever receive. Today my family gets new members. Today I can share with them all the happiness and love in my life. Today, I am so thankful.”
<div id="attachment_25615" style="width: 970px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-25615" src="https://blog-api.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/20479643_10207976905895232_8908593567052941357_n.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-25615 size-full" height="540" width="960" srcset="https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/20479643_10207976905895232_8908593567052941357_n.jpg 960w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/20479643_10207976905895232_8908593567052941357_n-300x169.jpg 300w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/20479643_10207976905895232_8908593567052941357_n-768x432.jpg 768w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/20479643_10207976905895232_8908593567052941357_n-880x495.jpg 880w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 960px) 100vw, 960px" />Ryan on the right meets his biological father Ed, his biological mother, Karen and his biological sister Caroline  for the first time on his birthday. Photo: <a href="http://www.jacpfef.com/">Jackie Foley</a> </div>
But like all good things, this good thing didn’t come easy.

<h5>Where it started </h5>
Ryan&#8217;s parents adopted him in North Carolina, which has closed adoption records. So even though he always knew he was adopted, finding out more about his origins was problematic. On top of that, because his dad was in the Army, the family moved a lot. 
<div id="attachment_25619" style="width: 970px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-25619" src="https://blog-api.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/20604263_10207976904415195_3109513256002552356_n.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-25619 size-full" height="640" width="960" srcset="https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/20604263_10207976904415195_3109513256002552356_n.jpg 960w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/20604263_10207976904415195_3109513256002552356_n-300x200.jpg 300w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/20604263_10207976904415195_3109513256002552356_n-768x512.jpg 768w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/20604263_10207976904415195_3109513256002552356_n-880x587.jpg 880w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 960px) 100vw, 960px" />Ryan meeting his father for the first time. Photo: <a href="http://www.jacpfef.com/">Jackie Foley</a></div>
His parents, Jack and Terri Moore, picked up the family — Ryan and his younger sister Allisen — as they moved to posts that ranged from Kansas to Korea. That made it harder for Ryan to track down records. But it didn’t stop him from looking or asking questions. When Ryan was in 5th grade, he did an oral report for class at Spencer Elementary School in Chicopee, Massachusetts. The assignment was on what was unique about his family, and his topic was his adoption. 
&nbsp;
<h5>Life Gets In The Way</h5>
Two years later was when he first read that note from his birth parents.
But as he got older, even though he was still trying to find his biological family, he eventually had to put his search on hold. 
“Life got in the way,” Ryan said.
There was college, the Army, deploying to Afghanistan, starting a new career, and getting married. The years slipped by, and his search was pushed to the side until he and his wife Debby decided to have kids — two sons, Ian, 5, and Ellis, 3. 
It was that last milestone that again stirred in Ryan the need to know more about his biological family.
“I always wanted to know,” said Ryan, 36. “But having a family that sparked in my mind, ‘OK I got to find this out.’” 
Like most adoptees, when Ryan visited a doctor and had to answer questions about whether he had medical issues in his family, he was at a loss.
“I have no idea.” 
That was easy to brush off when it was just about him, but having kids changed that.
“I realized that I didn&#8217;t have any health history information for our son,” Ryan said.
<h5>We have to find them </h5>
At first, that meant just diving back into his adoption records; he found “crib notes” from a foster parent that took care of him before his parents adopted him. Ryan’s wife immediately saw in those notes parallels with the type of things she’d seen with their first son.
<div id="attachment_25616" style="width: 310px" class="wp-caption alignright"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-25616" src="https://blog-api.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/20526063_10207976905815230_2891730427791474607_n-300x200.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-25616 size-medium" height="200" width="300" srcset="https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/20526063_10207976905815230_2891730427791474607_n-300x200.jpg 300w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/20526063_10207976905815230_2891730427791474607_n-768x512.jpg 768w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/20526063_10207976905815230_2891730427791474607_n-880x587.jpg 880w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/20526063_10207976905815230_2891730427791474607_n.jpg 960w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px" />Ryan&#8217;s parents, Jack and Terri Moore watch as he meets his biological parents. Photo: <a href="http://www.jacpfef.com/">Jackie Foley</a></div>&#8220;We have to find them,&#8221; she told Ryan.
But the paper records didn’t get him very far with closed adoption policies. Then last year, his wife gave him a 23andMe kit for Christmas. He saw it as a chance to learn about his ancestry and health, and maybe find more about his biological family. The health and ancestry information offered a refreshing opportunity to learn things he hadn’t know about himself. The family stuff came later.
About a month ago, someone popped up on his DNA Relatives as a predicted uncle. It’s hard to convey how momentous something like this is for an adoptee. It was the first person he was ever connected to biologically, his first blood relative.
Ryan took a long time working on the wording of his message. He was afraid that he might say something that would turn this newly found relative away. That’s not what happened.
Almost immediately after sending a carefully worded note, he got a response.
&#8220;He is my uncle,&#8221; Ryan said, describing the response. &#8220;He knows of me. He wants to help.”
<h5>Contact</h5>
When in the past it had taken years, decades even, to find the smallest of details, Ryan found himself on the edge of learning the whole truth in just hours. Two days after that exchange with his uncle, while he and Debby sat and watched a performance of Hamilton on Broadway, Ryan got a text that changed his life forever:
&#8220;Ryan, your biological mother, Karen, and myself, Ed, your biological father, have hoped and dreamed of this day.&#8221;
Soon, they talked on the phone, and Karen and Ed spoke with Ryan&#8217;s parents Jack and Terri. His wife spoke with them. So too did his sister Allisen. Ryan learned that he had another sister, a full sister, named Caroline. And he learned a bit of the back story.
His biological father, Ed, had been in North Carolina helping his dad open a new restaurant while on summer break from college when he met his biological mother, Karen, who was also in college but working a summer job. They started dating but went back to school in the fall, and that&#8217;s when she found out she was pregnant. They agreed that adoption was the best option. After Ryan&#8217;s birth, Karen and Ed drifted apart, but several years later they met again and married, and had Caroline, Ryan&#8217;s biological sister. It was a few years after that they got a divorce but remained amicable, and continued to live near each other in the Boston area.
<h5>Best Birthday Present Ever</h5>
<div id="attachment_25614" style="width: 310px" class="wp-caption alignright"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-25614" src="https://blog-api.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/20597315_10207976901815130_2834176105222409161_n-300x200.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-25614 size-medium" height="200" width="300" srcset="https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/20597315_10207976901815130_2834176105222409161_n-300x200.jpg 300w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/20597315_10207976901815130_2834176105222409161_n-768x512.jpg 768w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/20597315_10207976901815130_2834176105222409161_n-880x587.jpg 880w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/20597315_10207976901815130_2834176105222409161_n.jpg 960w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px" />Ryan, center, with his new extended family on his birthday. Photo: <a href="http://www.jacpfef.com/">Jackie Foley</a></div>
After Ryan finally found them, they all arranged to get together in person at Ed&#8217;s home on Ryan&#8217;s birthday. It turned out to be the best gift.
It was a shock, seeing family members who looked like him and even shared some of the same mannerisms. Ryan and his biological father share an odd trait of raising their voices an octave or two when they kid around, and they both love Formula 1 racing.
&#8220;That whole nature versus nurture thing is hard to get your head around,&#8221; Ryan said.
But Ryan was just as excited that his biological parents could meet his parents, Jack and Terri. He wanted them to see how lucky he was to have the life that they had given him.
&#8220;I have lived a happy life,&#8221; he said. &#8220;I know how hard the decision was that they made 36 years ago, but I wanted to express to them how thankful I am for it.&#8221;

Ryan’s Search For Family

Paul Leventhal is a patient man.
<div id="attachment_22516" style="width: 278px" class="wp-caption alignright"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-22516" src="https://blog-api.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/Jimmy-Paul1-268x300.jpg" alt="" class="size-medium wp-image-22516" width="268" height="300" srcset="https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/Jimmy-Paul1-268x300.jpg 268w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/Jimmy-Paul1.jpg 449w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 268px) 100vw, 268px" />Paul, right, and his brother Jimmy.</div>In his 70s now, he’s been searching for his biological father since he was 18.
More than two years ago, we wrote about Paul finding his half brother, Jimmy, using 23andMe. <a href="https://blog.23andme.com/23andme-customer-stories/a-fantastical-story/">Their story</a> — spanning decades and several continents — was dramatic and inspiring, but for Paul, at least, there were still chapters to be written.
“I joined 23andMe …primarily to trace down my genetic father,” he said. “Never did I imagine I would find a half brother on my maternal side who was born three years after me.”
It was a joyful surprise, and the two have built a relationship.
“(Jimmy) and I get along well. We bonded, and that’s never going to fall way,” Paul said.
And finding Jimmy using 23andMe gave him hope that perhaps his patience might pay off and he would uncover the identity of his biological father, too.
“I just waited for somebody to match,” Paul said of continued search on 23andMe.
It was a long shot.
<div id="attachment_25634" style="width: 235px" class="wp-caption alignright"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-25634" src="https://blog-api.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/20116871_10214016903441210_8432463590217499637_o-225x300.jpg" alt="" class="size-medium wp-image-25634" width="225" height="300" srcset="https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/20116871_10214016903441210_8432463590217499637_o-225x300.jpg 225w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/20116871_10214016903441210_8432463590217499637_o-660x880.jpg 660w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/20116871_10214016903441210_8432463590217499637_o.jpg 768w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 225px) 100vw, 225px" />Paul&#8217;s (and Jimmy&#8217;s) biological mother.</div>
<h5>Waiting on a Match</h5>
Paul’s story is complicated, and like his brother, his childhood has a Dickens kind of bleakness.
Paul’s mother and father had divorced when he was just a year old. She’d become pregnant with Paul when his father was serving in Europe during the Second World War. The timing was odd, but Paul didn’t know that until later.
His mother, who he only has vague memories of, was hospitalized off and on for psychological problems throughout her life. When Paul was just one year-old, she put and him his older brother in a foster home where he stayed until he was almost five.
Around then, her former husband (and the man Paul at first thought was his father) brought him to Chicago to live with him and his new wife. Throughout his childhood, his father and stepmother remained distant to him. As for Paul’s connection to his mother, it was almost non-existent.
He has one fleeting memory of sitting on his mother’s knee — everything else he knows about his mother is from relatives. It wasn’t until Paul was 18 — when his father died suddenly of a heart attack — that he learned that his father wasn’t his biological father. 
“He was on my birth certificate, but not my father,” Paul said. “My life was turned upside down.”  
Paul lived with this, his mother’s rejection and her family shunning him. Paul still feels deep disappointment toward her family for letting him be shipped off to a foster home for five years.
“I must have been quite an embarrassment to them and my maternal grandmother, who was still living at the time.”
Paul’s half-brother Jimmy’s young life was more filled with physical abuse, but Paul suffered more from emotional abuse.
Rejected by his mother and her family, Paul spent years trying to find his biological father. That’s part of why he eventually got his DNA tested with 23andMe. Connecting with Jimmy more than two years ago opened up a door into his family history, and renewed his hope of finding something out about his father.
So he waited.
“All I did was spit into a tube and sit back and wait,” Paul said.
<h5>Finding His Sisters</h5>
<div id="attachment_25635" style="width: 310px" class="wp-caption alignright"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-25635" src="https://blog-api.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/20032047_10214011921236658_8904163204533659120_n-300x300.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-25635 size-medium" width="300" height="300" srcset="https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/20032047_10214011921236658_8904163204533659120_n-300x300.jpg 300w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/20032047_10214011921236658_8904163204533659120_n-150x150.jpg 150w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/20032047_10214011921236658_8904163204533659120_n-271x271.jpg 271w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/20032047_10214011921236658_8904163204533659120_n-372x372.jpg 372w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/20032047_10214011921236658_8904163204533659120_n-574x574.jpg 574w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/20032047_10214011921236658_8904163204533659120_n.jpg 768w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px" />Paul&#8217;s biological father Bennett White.</div>
And then earlier this year, a new relative named Catilin popped up on his 23andMe results.
“Without DNA, I never would have found Caitlin, I never would have made this match,” said Paul. “It was like a bomb going off.”
Caitlin was a niece, the daughter of a half sister with whom he matches on his father’s side. Over the next few weeks, he met Caitlin’s mother, his half-sister, and his two other sisters. They shared with him a photo of their and Paul’s father, Bennett White, who died in 1960.
“He looked like me,” Paul said.
Tall and thin, his father hadn’t been a great dad to his daughters or husband to his wife. A teacher, his drinking problems drove him to quit and take a factory job. How Bennett and Paul’s mother met, he does not know, but his mother was at one point at a state hospital in Ohio where Bennett lived. Paul thought it was possible that his biological father could have been in detox at the hospital when his mother was there being treated for her psychological problems, but he does not know. 
“I believe I was the product of a brief affair,” Paul said. “I don’t even think he knew I existed.”
Paul has communicated with his sisters, Penny, Pam and Jane. They had one other sister who died as a baby. One of the sisters lives near him at his home in Florida, and they have met in person. Paul learned that his father had numerous affairs. It turns out he was married, and his wife was two months pregnant when he had an affair with Paul’s mother.
Later, he married another woman with whom he had two children, both of whom died at a young age. 
As with meeting his brother Jimmy, Paul is trying to get to know his sisters, seeing what they have in common, and how they are different. And answering this question that has lingered with him almost his entire life has changed him a bit.
“It’s both a big relief to know who he was and to put a face and name and character to this man,” Paul said. “It has put my mind at ease a bit, but I don’t think I’m done searching.”
He also notes that none of this would have been possible without 23andMe.
“I never would have found Bennett or Jimmy without it,” he said.

Using 23andMe To Find Family

Annie was looking at a note from a woman she didn’t know. Someone she’d been searching for all her life. A woman named Harley, who just might be her biological mother.
<div id="attachment_25598" style="width: 310px" class="wp-caption alignright"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-25598" src="https://blog-api.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/IMG_2842-300x300.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-25598 size-medium" height="300" width="300" srcset="https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/IMG_2842-300x300.jpg 300w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/IMG_2842-150x150.jpg 150w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/IMG_2842-768x768.jpg 768w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/IMG_2842-1024x1024.jpg 1024w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/IMG_2842-880x880.jpg 880w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/IMG_2842-1180x1180.jpg 1180w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/IMG_2842-271x271.jpg 271w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/IMG_2842-372x372.jpg 372w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/IMG_2842-574x574.jpg 574w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/IMG_2842-980x980.jpg 980w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px" />Harley, on the left, and Annie.</div>“I can’t wait to talk to you,” Harley told her in the email. “Here’s my phone number.”
Annie tried to describe what she was feeling at that moment.
“I’m freaking out,” she said. “I literally almost vomited on the floor.”
Annie’s story — and it’s a doozy — is set to air this week on a new podcast called My Gay Life.
The Seattle-based producers Rebecca Fernandez and Cyndi Butz-Houghton put the show together. Annie’s story, titled “Are you my mom?” is just the second episode, so the team has already set the bar pretty high.
Rebecca, who gave us the heads-up on Annie’s hour-long story, told us it made them all “laugh, cry and get goose bumps.” Not a bad review. We heard it, and all of us here were right there with the Kleenex and group hugs.
In Rebecca’s quick summary of the story, she said, “(It) features a 30-year-old lesbian who was reunited with her birth mother — partially in thanks to 23andMe.”
But the story is way way more than that.
It’s about Annie first coming out to her parents at 14. (Her father was like “Duh”, but her mom was a little surprised.) What it was like to grow up “hella gay, in a hella small town.” And the story is about Annie finally finding a solid relationship with her partner, Alejandra, and about building strong bonds with her adoptive family, as well as with Alejandra’s parents.<div id="attachment_25599" style="width: 310px" class="wp-caption alignright"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-25599" src="https://blog-api.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/IMG_2837-300x300.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-25599 size-medium" height="300" width="300" srcset="https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/IMG_2837-300x300.jpg 300w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/IMG_2837-150x150.jpg 150w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/IMG_2837-768x768.jpg 768w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/IMG_2837-1024x1024.jpg 1024w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/IMG_2837-880x880.jpg 880w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/IMG_2837-1180x1180.jpg 1180w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/IMG_2837-271x271.jpg 271w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/IMG_2837-372x372.jpg 372w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/IMG_2837-574x574.jpg 574w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/IMG_2837-980x980.jpg 980w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/IMG_2837.jpg 2048w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px" />A picture of Annie on the right as a teenager, next to a photo of her mother Harley as a teenager, on the left.</div>
Annie’s story is unique, but much of what she talks about will sound familiar to other adoptees, like growing up and being keenly aware that, unlike her friends, she didn’t look like her parents, or the fact that she didn’t have a family tree, or even a family medical history.Annie knew that she was born in a small town in Idaho and that she’d been handed over to her adoptive parents when she was just 12 hours old. That was the extent of what she knew of her birth. So what she carried her whole life were questions about her origins and the mother who gave her up for adoption.
But, as someone who had a wonderful, loving relationship with her adoptive parents, asking those questions brought up other uncomfortable issues. She didn’t ever want her parents to feel like her search meant that she felt they were in any way inadequate. Many adoptees express similar feelings. So much of her searching was internal. She thought about her biological mother more than she went out and searched for her.
“When you’re adopted and don’t know where you come from, or what your family looks like, you make up this vision,” said Annie.
For her, it was creating this “cookie cutter” version of a family with a mom who had the perfect hair, at home baking cookies.
The truth was a little different than that, Annie said. And after learning about everything, she felt she was fortunate that it took this long, because maybe earlier in her life she might not have been ready.Then this year after turning 30, Annie said she was finally feeling ready to answer the biggest question of her life:Where did I come from?
“My life was falling into place, so I decided I would start looking again,” Annie said. “I was at a point mentally that it was OK.”
Other things seemed to fall into place as well, and almost immediately after beginning her search, she started getting answers, first through a free search site for adoptees and then using 23andMe to confirm her connection. Within 24 hours, she connected with Harley, who shared photos.Right away some of the fantasies about her birth mother were set straight. Her birth mom had tattoos and worked in a bar. Annie, who has tattoos of her own, said the photo went counter to her idolized version of her birth mother, baking cookies at home.
“That was not what I was expecting,” Annie said.
At first, Annie didn’t even see the resemblance. She thought that once she talked to her birth mom, there would be this instant connection. That didn’t happen, but as they talked Annie felt drawn to her. And she heard for the first time the story of her birth. It was hard to hear.
Her birth mother was just 17 when she became pregnant. She ran away from home, but came back just before the birth. They told her that the baby would be adopted, so she asked her dad if she could at least see the baby after she was born. He said of course, but that’s not what happened. She never saw Annie. She didn’t even know if she had had a boy or a girl. Her parents had told her conflicting stories, even giving her wrong information to hide where Annie ended up.
Everything wasn’t cookie cutter and perfect for her birth mom. She had two more kids, two sons, who went to live with her sister and mother in Olympia, Washington. Harley spent some time in jail for a drug offense. One of the many twists in the story was that at one point, after being moved, Harley’s cellmate was one of Annie’s closest childhood friends.
Not long ago, Annie traveled to Sand Point, Idaho to meet her biological mother. She called it the “biggest day of my life.” And oddly she’s grown closer to her adoptive parents through all this.
As she thinks of everything that has happened in such a short time — she only began searching again in May — she realized that perhaps she could have solved the mystery of her birth long ago, “but I wasn’t ready.”
It wasn’t until now that she was ready. The timing was perfect.
Alejandra, Annie’s partner, told recently how the experience seemed to change her.
“’You are happy now,’” Alejandra told her. “It’s a positive change. You have a bounce in your step.’”
We’re feeling a little of that bounce. You can too by listening to Annie’s story <a href="https://soundcloud.com/mygaylife/episode-102-are-you-my-mom">here</a>.
And here&#8217;s a video of Annie going back to Sand Point to meet Harley for the first time. If you are not a patient person you can go to about the 3:30 mark, but keep the Kleenex close.
<iframe loading="lazy" width="640" height="360" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/P-pv-3COjnU" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen"></iframe>

Listen To Annie’s Story

That urge to explore, to go beyond what we know, is programmed into our DNA — a central part of the story of human history, where people journeyed first out of Africa, and then beyond, to populate the world.<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" src="/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/iStock-522001452-300x200.jpg" alt="" class="alignright wp-image-25537 size-medium" width="300" height="200" srcset="https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/iStock-522001452-300x200.jpg 300w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/iStock-522001452-768x512.jpg 768w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/iStock-522001452-1024x683.jpg 1024w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/iStock-522001452-880x587.jpg 880w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/iStock-522001452-1180x787.jpg 1180w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/iStock-522001452.jpg 1254w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px" />
And now our DNA doesn’t just compel us to discover new frontiers, it gives us the map of where to go.
Customers at 23andMe have begun to use their DNA test results as a roadmap of sorts. They have created travel itineraries, picked trip destinations from their newfound ancestral lands, and even visited with relatives they met through 23andMe.
“I got my results one day, and I jumped on the map view to see if I had family in any of the places where my ancestry is supposedly from,” said<a href="https://blog.23andme.com/23andme-customer-stories/more-deserving/"> Rachel Kilgore</a>, a product manager in Los Angeles. “There was one distant cousin in Norway!”
<h5>Mapping It Out</h5>
Rachel may have been in the vanguard when she used her 23andMe results three years ago to map out a summer vacation, but her story isn’t so unusual now as a steady stream of people have followed her lead and used the discoveries they made with their 23andMe results to help plan their travel.
People have used their 23andMe results to help direct their <a href="https://www.23andme.com/dna-ancestry">travel to their ancestral roots</a> in Africa, the United Kingdom and Russia, for instance.<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" src="/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/Ancestry-Comp-Home-e1498680599352.png" alt="" class="alignright size-full wp-image-24211" width="300" height="190" />
Risa Rubin used her 23andMe results to help her and her brother find members of her mother’s family who they thought had died in the Holocaust. Risa eventually<a href="https://blog.23andme.com/23andme-customer-stories/meant-to-be/"> traveled to Israel</a> to meet her newfound cousin Ayelet. Mike Lattimore knew he’d travel to Africa, but he said his results helped push him in the<a href="https://blog.23andme.com/23andme-customer-stories/the-keeper-of-memory/"> right direction</a>. For Alyssa, another customer with African ancestry, her results directed a journey to Ghana that turned into an extended stay where she<a href="https://blog.23andme.com/23andme-customer-stories/alyssas-23andme-ancestry-story/"> volunteered at an orphanage</a>.
When scientists first mapped the<a href="https://www.genome.gov/glossary/index.cfm?id=106#human_genome_project"> Human Genome</a> in 2003, they knew it would guide scientists studying disease for decades to come. What they didn’t know was that it could help people navigate their own personal journey of discovery.
“I strongly feel that we should invest in finding our ancestry because it really helps us as human beings,” said Mike.
This summer, we are launching the Golden23SM Sweepstakes to send 23 winners on trips around the world based on their DNA. Starting today through August 3, one lucky winner will be chosen each day to embark on an exciting genetic adventure. Travel packages are valued up to $20,000 and include round-trip airfare for two, five nights of accommodations, customized itineraries and more. Learn more and enter <a href="https://23andme.com/dna-travel">HERE</a>.
NO PURCHASE NECESSARY. A purchase will not improve your chances of winning. Open to legal residents of the 50 U.S. states and D.C., 18 or older. Sweepstakes ends at 11:59 pm PT on 8/3/17. You must complete the 23andMe Personal Genetic Service™ to qualify to win. Itineraries are not for entire duration of stay. For free entry method and complete details, see <a href="https://www.23andme.com/dna-travel-rules">Official Rules</a> that govern this Sweepstakes. Sponsor: 23andMe, Inc. Void where prohibited.
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DNA Relatives — Page 5