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

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

23andMe Blog Team

Happy Father’s Day 2018

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

Maria Biskie spent her life searching.
Born in the Philippines in 1973, she never knew her father. In her lowest moments, she’d longed to have him by her side. That day came earlier this year, after testing with 23andMe. <img loading="lazy" decoding="async" src="https://blog-api.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/Maria-Dad-238x300.jpg" alt="" class="alignright size-medium wp-image-25306" width="238" height="300" srcset="https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/Maria-Dad-238x300.jpg 238w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/Maria-Dad.jpg 642w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 238px) 100vw, 238px" />


“There were a lot of times in my life which were very rough and very hard for me,” Maria told the Hays Daily News in Hays Kansas. “I could only wish he was there.” 

Maria and her biological father, Bill Tittle met in person for the first time at in early March. For Tittle, who never married and never knew he had a child, meeting Maria was a little overwhelming.

<div style="float: right; text-align: justified; width: 300px; background-color: #eee; padding: 15px; margin-left: 10px;"><iframe loading="lazy" width="300" height="169" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/qGqbuRhQP2U" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen"></iframe></div>

“I’m not an emotional guy, but it gets to me,” he said while wiping away tears.


Tittle was in the Navy and stationed in the Philippines in the early 1970s when he began dating Maria’s mother. This was during the waning days of the Vietnam War, and when he left on a deployment without much notice he didn&#8217;t know his  girlfriend was pregnant. When he returned, she was gone.
Maria’s mom had moved back to her hometown a few hours away to have her baby. Tittle tried but was unable to find her, he told the paper
Tittle is now retired and lives in Venice California. He never married. Learning he has not only a daughter, but also four grandchildren, brings him great joy.
“I have no other kids, and it was good news to me. I tell people I got the email a young man fears and an old man looks forward to,” he said.


For Maria, finding her father has brought her peace.


“I found everything I’ve been looking for in my life,” she said.


Check out her story here.

A Wish Comes True

If Lisa hadn’t used 23andMe, it’s hard to imagine how she would have ever known about Nelly.<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="alignright wp-image-24612 size-medium" src="https://blog-api.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/LISA-P-QUOTE-300x300.jpg" alt="lisa-p-quote" width="300" height="300" srcset="https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/LISA-P-QUOTE-300x300.jpg 300w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/LISA-P-QUOTE-150x150.jpg 150w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/LISA-P-QUOTE-768x768.jpg 768w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/LISA-P-QUOTE-880x880.jpg 880w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/LISA-P-QUOTE-271x271.jpg 271w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/LISA-P-QUOTE-372x372.jpg 372w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/LISA-P-QUOTE-574x574.jpg 574w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/LISA-P-QUOTE-980x980.jpg 980w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/LISA-P-QUOTE.jpg 1000w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px" />
Lisa hadn’t been searching for her. When she tested with 23andMe, Lisa was mostly just curious about the science of personal genetics.


“I was fascinated that the technology had advanced so far so quickly, and that I could get my DNA tested so easily,” she said.
A 47 year-old designer who lives in Durham, North Carolina, Lisa first heard about 23andMe in a Wall Street Journal article that ran a few years ago.
She thought the name was cool, but put off testing until a friend who’d used 23andMe convinced her to give it a try.
“On a lark, I decided to take the test,” Lisa said.

While she was still very interested in the science, Lisa was also curious about whether she could learn a little about her grandfather’s family. Her grandfather had been adopted, and raised by a loving and well-to-do family. He didn’t know and didn’t share much about his biological family with his daughter, Lisa’s mom. As a result that page of the family history was largely blank.
There was some speculation about his ancestry – that he was Irish – but nothing firm.
“I decided to take the test to either confirm or deny what little I knew,” Lisa said.
The speculation about having Irish ancestry was correct, but there were also some surprises, like having Balkan and Native American ancestry. Lisa’s biggest surprise was finding a close “DNA relative” she never knew she had.
“Within two days I got an email from a woman who matched as a second cousin,” Lisa said.
It was a lucky break because Lisa’s new found cousin was a gold mine of information, quickly filling up the blank pages in the family history.


“She opened everything up,” Lisa said.


Her cousin, a forensic genealogist, had pieced together her grandfather’s origins and the story of his grandmother, Lisa’s great grandmother Nelly Scofield.
Lisa learned that Nelly’s husband died and that she couldn’t care for her two young sons, forcing her to give up Lisa’s grandfather and his brother. The two boys went to different families, and were raised apart. According to Lisa’s cousin, many years later when Lisa’s grandfather was about 21, a man came to his work.
“I’m your brother,” the man said to Lisa’s grandfather.
He’d found his brother to tell him that he too had been adopted, that he had recently found their biological mother and that she wanted to see him. Instead of going to see his mother, Lisa’s grandfather told his brother to go away.


“He had a good life and a good family,” said Lisa.
That was the last contact the two had. Exchanging messages with her cousin, Lisa learned that the family had always known of her grandfather’s existence but they didn’t have a name. Lisa’s cousin also shared with her a newspaper clipping about her grandfather’s brother’s reunion with their mother, Nelly. And she shared more details about the family with Lisa, including their roots reaching back to a small island off the west coast of Ireland, and their love of music.
“It’s was amazing to learn what ancestral traits my grandfather had in common with his unknown relatives,” Lisa said.
And it wasn’t just his looks, but also his hobbies and talents, Lisa said.
“Who plays the Irish accordion when they don’t even know they are Irish?” she asked.


But for Lisa what was most powerful was what this connection meant for her mother, who will soon be meeting her cousins in person.
“She now knows, even if her dad didn’t, who his birth family was,” Lisa said.
And Lisa has advice for others considering using 23andMe.


“If you are even thinking about taking the test, do it.” She said. “ It&#8217;s anonymous and you don&#8217;t need to share anything, if you don&#8217;t want. But you never know what secrets are waiting to be unlocked and how your life might change just from spitting in a tube!”

Whoa Nelly

After she retired from teaching theater at a Florida college, Julia Gagne’s life took on its own unexpected dramatic arc.
<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="alignright size-medium wp-image-24256" src="https://blog-api.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/Julia-Doug-300x300.jpg" alt="Julia &#038; Doug" width="300" height="300" srcset="https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/Julia-Doug-300x300.jpg 300w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/Julia-Doug-150x150.jpg 150w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/Julia-Doug-768x768.jpg 768w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/Julia-Doug-880x880.jpg 880w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/Julia-Doug-271x271.jpg 271w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/Julia-Doug-372x372.jpg 372w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/Julia-Doug-574x574.jpg 574w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/Julia-Doug-980x980.jpg 980w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/Julia-Doug.jpg 1000w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px" />
Although she’d been adopted at birth more than 65 years ago, Julia hadn’t spent much time searching for her biological family. When she tested with 23andMe a few years ago, it was more to simply learn a little about her ancestry.
She was a little curious about what else she might learn, but she didn’t expect it would change her life.
She understands how all that sounds overly theatrical – she’s directed enough plays to know – but this plot twist is real.
“It sounds dramatic,” Julia said, “Because it is dramatic.”

<h6>Her Early Search</h6>
Julia was raised in a loving family. She didn’t really pine for her biological family, but in the early 1980s she did get some records from the state of Michigan about her adoption. There was nothing in the records that would help her identify her birth mother, but Julia learned her mother’s age, what she did for a living and her level of education. That and a few other facts were all she found. She filed those papers away for a few decades and went on with her life. Then a few years ago, Julia signed up for 23andMe.


“The results were interesting,” she said.


She didn’t find any close relatives, at least not at first. And then about a year ago she got a close relative match, someone listed as a first cousin. For Julia, who had never met or known any biological relative, finding a first cousin was a big deal. She was taken aback.
“What?” she thought.
<h6>Her First Connection</h6>
So using 23andMe she sent the man a message, explained who she was, where she was born and when. And, of course, she told him that she’d been adopted. Then she waited.
“A few weeks later, I received a message that would change my life,” Julia said.


She’d actually been out with a friend, getting ready to go into a movie, when she noticed she’d gotten an email. She opened it up and read.


“I think you are my aunt. I think your mother was Beatrice,” her newfound nephew said. “I think you have a half brother who is alive, and a half sister who has passed on. But let&#8217;s figure it out.”


And there was more.
“He gave me a phone number, and told me my brother was waiting for me to call,” Julia said.
<h6>
 Much in Common</h6>

Of course, she called.
On the other end of the line was her brother, Douglass Fiero, also a retired college professor, although he taught literature, not theater.
The connection was immediate. Doug hadn’t known of Julia’s existence, but the timing of her birth suddenly made sense.
A few years older than Julia, Doug remembered a time when he was nine and his sister six and they spent two months sleeping in the kitchen of his father’s small apartment. His parents had been divorced, and his mother who’d been raising him and his sister, had left the children with their father for a time. That’s when Julia was born.
On the phone so many years later, Julia and Doug spent a lot of time trying to get to know each other. He told her about her half sister, who’d passed away, about his sons and his work. But most of all Doug wanted Julia to know about their mother.


“Probably the most intelligent person I’ve ever known,” he said.

<h6>Their Mother</h6>

Julia saw a little of herself, but also some of the same traits that so distinguished her own adoptive mother. Both her mother who raised her and her biological mother attended college in Kalamazoo. And both women ran businesses and raised kids on their own at a time when that wasn’t common.


“The main thing I wanted to do when we first talked was to tell (Julia) about our mother,” Doug said. “She is really important. Someone, who along with my wife, is the most significant person in my life. I was really excited to share that with (Julia). It’s been a wonderful and startling thing to be able to do that.”
Julia eventually visited Doug and his wife in New Jersey. They shared their own histories, and the coincidences in their lives: Julia’s love of theater had been sparked by a summer stock theater, uncannily the same theater to which their biological mom took Doug and his sister when they were children; moreover, Julia spent all of her career and Doug spent the major portions of his career teaching at the university level.
For Julia it’s the kind of drama that would be hard to make up, and she’s still a little shocked that after so many decades she’s pieced together the story of her birth.
“My birth mother had told no one of my existence,” she said “Without the DNA analysis at 23andMe, I would never have found any members of my birth family. No adoption registry would have provided answers ever. I am very grateful, incredibly surprised and delighted by this turn of events. It is still somewhat incredible to me that this could happen after more than six decades of life. Amazing.”

Drama in the Family

As a wedding planner, Wendy Wojcik pays close attention to even the smallest of details, yet in her own life she always ignored one big one – the identity of her biological father.<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="alignright size-medium wp-image-24251" src="https://blog-api.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/Wendy-W-Quote-300x300.jpg" alt="Wendy W Quote" width="300" height="300" srcset="https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/Wendy-W-Quote-300x300.jpg 300w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/Wendy-W-Quote-150x150.jpg 150w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/Wendy-W-Quote-768x768.jpg 768w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/Wendy-W-Quote-880x880.jpg 880w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/Wendy-W-Quote-271x271.jpg 271w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/Wendy-W-Quote-372x372.jpg 372w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/Wendy-W-Quote-574x574.jpg 574w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/Wendy-W-Quote-980x980.jpg 980w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/Wendy-W-Quote.jpg 1000w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px" />


That all changed recently. Upon reaching her 50th birthday and mourning the loss of her mother, Wendy realized she wanted to know who her father was, what he may have passed on to her, and what it might mean for her now.
“When I turned 50, I wanted to know those details,” she said. “Then I got 23andMe as a gift, and I’ve learned so much. It’s been the gift that keeps on giving. All of this stems out of doing 23andMe.” 

<h6>Different Dads</h6>

What she learned changed her, her two sisters and her brother. Wendy and her siblings grew up in the Pacific Northwest knowing that their dad wasn’t their biological father. Their mom was always pretty frank about it, letting them know that they each had different fathers, but never telling them who those men were.


“We all look different,” said Wendy.

Their mom, who’d been a nurse, shared a few details of her rough years when as a teenager she had her kids, but it wasn&#8217;t much. The details were a few names that meant very little, as well as some dates and cities, but it wasn’t enough to identify their fathers. And over time, Wendy and her siblings just stopped asking. They didn’t want to hurt anyone’s feelings. And, according to Wendy, they were fine with not knowing, or at least they thought they were.
“When you don’t know, it’s always in the back of your head, but we’d tried to forget about it,” she said.

<h6>Turning 50</h6>

And in a way Wendy, her two sisters and her brother did forget about it. But then two things happened – Wendy turned 50; and her mother died. Suddenly Wendy felt she had permission to start her search.
In early 2016, a friend gave Wendy a 23andMe kit as a gift. Wendy sent her sample back to the lab and waited. Her results came in and that’s when things started happening, really fast. She connected right away with someone who was listed as a close cousin.
“I recognized the last name,” said Wendy. “It was one of the last names of the men my mom dated when I was young.”


She thought that   it was more than just a coincidence, and her cousin must be related to the man her mother once dated and that he, “must be my dad.”

<h6>A Big Surprise</h6>

Her other surprise was that her younger sister Elena was not her half sister, as she’d been lead to believe, but her full sister. They share the same biological father.
Through her cousin found on 23andMe, Wendy and her sister were able to find the man they believed was their biological father. He was still alive, so they reached out and he immediately wanted to meet. They eventually were able to confirm he was their father, their mother’s former high school boyfriend.
Wendy immediately realized how much this search and information could help the rest of her family.


“It was so fast and as soon as I found my father, I said, ‘we’re all going to get a kit, and we’re all going to find out who our fathers were,’” Wendy said.

<h6>Narrowing Down the Possibilities</h6>

One by one over a few months, Wendy’s other sister, Tamara, and her brother Paul, tested with 23andMe. They each found cousins who were able to help them in their search. One of their cousins, well-versed in using genetic genealogy, helped Wendy quickly sort through matches and identify the most likely candidates.
And they used the bits of information they had from their mother like dates, names, and cities to narrow the search.
And then they found who they had been looking for. Wendy’s oldest sister’s biological father turned out to be a former race car driver, and their brother’s father was their mom’s former square dancing teacher. They were all still alive and Wendy and her siblings, who range in age from 49 to 55, each got to meet their fathers. They all welcomed the news.  Wendy and her siblings got a chance to meet their extended families and other half siblings for the first time.


“The best part about this is that even though our mom is gone, we’re gaining a whole new family, some of whom were even looking for us and all seem happy to know us,” Wendy said. “It’s kind of cool that even though we lost a parent we gained a new one.”

Our Three Fathers

For his big birthday Adam Keim wrote out a to-do list titled – “40 for 40.”<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="alignright size-medium wp-image-24145" src="https://blog-api.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/Adam-quote-300x300.jpg" alt="Adam quote" width="300" height="300" srcset="https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/Adam-quote-300x300.jpg 300w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/Adam-quote-150x150.jpg 150w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/Adam-quote-768x768.jpg 768w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/Adam-quote-880x880.jpg 880w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/Adam-quote-271x271.jpg 271w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/Adam-quote-372x372.jpg 372w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/Adam-quote-574x574.jpg 574w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/Adam-quote-980x980.jpg 980w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/Adam-quote.jpg 1000w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px" />


It included little things like walking across the Golden Gate Bridge, volunteering for a day, and getting a massage.
“These are mostly things I have never done, things I have needed to do, and a few that I haven’t done in a long time,” Adam wrote across the top.


These were modest endeavors for a man facing his 40s, who wanted to spend a little time savoring what’s around him, take better care of himself, and maybe have some fun. But if you saw the list, you’d wonder why it took Adam until number 27 to include the one thing that he was always curious about – start researching who his biological family was.
“I always knew I was adopted but I never did anything about finding my natural parents,” he said.


Adam knew that he was born in San Diego, he was adopted when he was 4-months old, and that the foster parents called him Mike.
“I really knew nothing more,” Adam said.


Then Adam’s partner, Steve, gave him a 23andMe kit for Christmas. Little did Adam know, it would open up an entirely new personal history.

<h6>Starting from Scratch</h6>

From his 23andMe results, Adam found many DNA relatives including a few second and third cousins who sent him messages. They exchanged messages, but quickly realized it would be hard to determine the source of their DNA connection because of Adam being adopted.


&#8220;I had nothing to offer them,” he said. “No surnames. No history. Nothing at all.&#8221;


When Adam had just about given up on 23andMe and his search for his birth family, a bizarre string of messages changed his life.

<div style="float: right; text-align: justified; width: 350px; background-color: #eee; padding: 15px; margin-left: 10px;">Finding Lisa
Authorities believe Lisa was kidnapped as a toddler and held by a man until she was five. The man who took her was convicted of murder for killing a woman and sentenced to prison. He later died in prison without revealing where Lisa came from.

Now 30 years later, detectives from the Crimes Against Children Detail of the San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department are working with genetic genealogist and DNA expert Barbara Rae-Venter to find Lisa’s biological family. Lisa, whose name is being withheld to protect her current identity, was too young at the time of her abduction to know or give any information about her biological parents or where she is from. Authorities are not even sure in which state or country she was abducted; her abductor had been in Quebec, Canada and all over the United States from the New England states to California.

They are not even sure when Lisa was born, but estimate it was about 1981, based on Lisa’s dental development at the time she was recovered. They also believe she was younger than two when she was abducted.For more information on the case or to learn how to help, email Barbara Rae-Venter at GenealogyConsult@gmail.com. Barbara is a retired patent attorney who specialized in biotechnology. In addition to a J.D., Barbara has a Ph.D. in biology, and before attending law school, taught biochemistry and endocrinology at the University of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston,Texas.

</div>
A profile had appeared on his list of DNA relatives that wasn’t there previously. It listed Lisa as a likely second or third cousin.
He started receiving messages from a woman named Barbara Rae-Venter who was working with Lisa, and she asked Adam to “share genomes”.


She told him she was a volunteer with DNAadoption, and asked him to send his response to the DNAadoption website query line and that she’d in turn be able to put him in touch with a volunteers who could help him in his search.
<h6>
 More about Lisa</h6>

Even after sharing genomes, Adam was suspicious about the strange messages. He thought it might be a scam or ploy to get money from him. So after not replying to some of her messages, he got a long message from Barbara. She explained that she was working with a deputy from the San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department to help Lisa – not her real name – learn who she is and try to find her own biological family.
As a toddler, Lisa had been kidnapped and was held captive for several years. After a few years, she managed to escape. Her kidnapper was later arrested and put in prison, where he later died. Unfortunately, he never offered up any information about Lisa’s origins, and as a result, the authorities could never identify Lisa’s biological parents to reunite her with her family.
Now more than 30 years later, with the help of expert researchers and genetic genealogists, as well as advancements in DNA testing, they are trying to help Lisa finally find answers. (See the sidebar to learn more about Lisa’s story and the effort to help her.)


At first the story they told seemed so awful that Adam had a hard time believing it.
“It was like something you see on a Thursday night TV crime show. This type of stuff doesn’t actually happen to real people,” Adam said.


They asked Adam for his help.
<div id="attachment_24148" style="width: 310px" class="wp-caption alignright"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-24148" class="wp-image-24148 size-medium" src="https://blog-api.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/Rob-Adam-300x277.jpeg" alt="Rob &#038; Adam" width="300" height="277" srcset="https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/Rob-Adam-300x277.jpeg 300w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/Rob-Adam.jpeg 537w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px" />Adam, on the right, and his brother Robert.</div>
He quickly shared his birth certificate and adoption records with Barbara, which included his adoptive mother’s maiden name and his birth date.
<h6>Finding His Mother</h6>
This information would allow Barbara, with the help of an adoption search angel, Diana Iwanski, to obtain information from his original birth certificate through a reverse look up microfiche. Within a day, Barbara and Diana had obtained Adam’s mother’s maiden name, his half-brother’s name (Robert), as well as the name Adam was given at birth – Michael Richard Kravan.


Although the deputy asked Adam to wait before trying to contact any family members until he could confirm the information on his birth mother by obtaining a copy of his original birth certificate from San Diego County, that didn’t stop Adam from looking online. Within minutes of learning his birth name and the name of his half-brother, he quickly found his profile on Facebook. It was there that Adam found pictures of his birth mother.
“When I saw them I just started balling my eyes out,” he said. “It’s hard to describe, being in your 40s and your whole life not knowing anything about your birth family and then all of a sudden, you see them. It all happened so fast. I went from getting a crazy email about a kidnapped girl to finding my birth family within a few days.”


All those emotions were mixed together when the deputy got back in touch with Adam a few months later and gave him the OK to contact his birth mother, Patti.
When they finally spoke on the phone, they were both overwrought with emotion. He tried to put her nerves at ease by explaining that he held no judgement, just joy for giving him life.

“I told her I had a great life and am very happy. I am very grateful that she put me up for adoption versus one of the alternatives.”

<h6>Close to Home</h6>

Patti and Robert only lived a few hours from Adam’s home in Oakland, California. He drove up to meet Robert first, then met Patti a few weeks later. The three met several times in those first few months and spent many hours together talking. Adam started getting answers to the holes in his past, and his mother was able to explain to Adam why he’d been given up for adoption.
“She had three children – all with different men,” Adam said. “She was a troubled young woman at the time; lots of drugs and alcohol and unfortunate situations that made raising a child tough.”


She in turn told him that he had another older brother, who she hadn’t seen for decades. Now Adam has put finding his oldest brother on his list of things to do in the coming year.
“Now that I’ve started learning about my birth family, I want to learn more and more,” Adam claimed.
<div id="attachment_24152" style="width: 310px" class="wp-caption alignright"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-24152" class="size-medium wp-image-24152" src="https://blog-api.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/Adam-His-Grandfather.001-300x193.jpg" alt="Adam's high school graduation picture, right, and a photo of his grandfather." width="300" height="193" srcset="https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/Adam-His-Grandfather.001-300x193.jpg 300w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/Adam-His-Grandfather.001.jpg 450w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px" />Adam&#8217;s high school graduation picture, right, and a photo of his grandfather.</div>
<h6>
 Finding his birth father</h6>

His own search led to finding an uncle, Aaron, who is a half-brother of his birth mother, whom she never knew about before. Aaron’s father, Adam’s maternal grandfather was an actor in the 70s and 80s, and shares a striking physical resemblance to Adam.
DNA testing of Adam’s birth mother confirmed that Adam was connected to Lisa through his biological father.
Based on the family tree that Barbara built for Lisa and DNA information, both Lisa and Adam are connected to a man who was one of each of their closest matches. Through that connection Barbara identified the family she believes also include Adam’s father. DNA testing of a member of that family identified him as likely an uncle of Adam’s. But the definitive answer about who his father is, is still being sought. It’s another piece of his and Lisa’s puzzle they are trying solve.
He still can’t help but feel heartbroken by his cousin Lisa’s story.


“She deserves to find her family too,” he said. “I owe her so much and I look forward to the day I can meet her and thank her in person.”


The whole experience has brought peace to Adam. He always felt a disconnect with his adoptive family; they didn’t always get along and had very different personalities and interests. Now, finding relatives who are outgoing and creative like him, not to mention share physical and character traits, gives him a sense of belonging he didn’t have before.


“This entire experience has helped explain why I am the way I am,” he said, “and I am forever grateful.”

A List For Midlife

An accomplished scientist and businessman, Stephen Levine has spent his whole life <img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="alignright size-thumbnail wp-image-23645" src="https://blog-api.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/Stephen-Levine-200x200.jpg" alt="Stephen Levine" width="200" height="200" />searching.


That restlessness is driven by a quest that is both emotional and intellectual, a desire to learn more about the world around him and himself. It was also driven by what he calls a deep emotional trauma. But that intense curiosity about who he was and where he came from was recently rewarded with a family connection he could have only made with the help of 23andMe.
“There is a lovely tender, tear rendering story here,” said Stephen, a Ph.D., who lives in Northern Washington and works in nutritional medicine.


He’d been adopted and grew up in Brooklyn in a family in which he felt alien and disconnected to his adoptive mother.
Using details from a story his adoptive mother told him about his birth, Stephen tracked down his biological mother when he was in his early 30s.
It wasn’t the kind of reunion he’d hoped for, however.
“She was a broken person, a street person,” he said.
His mother had agreed to meet him at a White Castle fast food restaurant in Brooklyn. It was a strange place for a mother and son reunion, and while he drove to the meeting, Stephen questioned whether he’d really found the right person at all.


“Intellectually I knew it was her, but emotionally I was so shaken up I just didn’t know,” he said.


But he thought to himself:
“If this is really my mom, then when I look at her face, I will know 100 percent,” he said. “And, she’ll have green eyes.”


Just after he parked his car at the restaurant a woman knocked on his window.
“I saw her face and I saw my face within it, with her green eyes,” he said.
Wanting to get to know her and learn more about his biological family, Stephen spent two days with her in a large hotel suite that he’d rented.
“She was obviously mentally imbalanced and depressed,” Stephen said. “I asked her many questions including the name of my biological father. She did give me his last name.”


After that initial meeting, he tried to develop a relationship with her, but it was too painful and difficult for her, he said. She eventually asked him to leave her alone.
His reunion with his mother stopped any additional searching for family for three decades until his own daughter, Ariel, reignited it when she tested with 23andMe.
Ariel’s 23andMe results showed a close connection with a woman she didn’t know. That woman, Marilyn, sent her a message. Marilyn wanted to figure out how they were so closely related. 23andMe showed that Marilyn was either Ariel’s aunt or a close cousin, and Marilyn’s father matched her as a grandfather.
Ariel told Marilyn, who was from Brooklyn, about her dad being adopted and originally being from Brooklyn. Marilyn and Stephen then connected and in an email exchange Marilyn asked Stephen if he knew his biological father’s last name. He told her he didn’t, only that it was a short name and started with “Z.”


“My maiden name is Zwick,” Marilyn emailed back.
“I knew in that instant, that this was the name that my mother had told me, over 30 years ago, and that this was my father’s family,” Stephen said. “I’ll never forget that moment.”
Stephen quickly booked a flight back to New York, renting an apartment where he met his sister Marilyn as well as his biological father and a collection of other relatives
At first his father, a retired sociology teacher, was standoffish, but as they talked it became obvious that Stephen was genuine. The two men looked a lot alike and even have similar mannerisms. At some point, it seemed to dawn on his biological father that Stephen was indeed his son.
He got up and walked over to Stephen, embracing him and saying:


“I have always wanted a son.”


It was more than Stephen could have hoped for, he said. They sat together and talked and Stephen learned that he and his father shared some of the same interests. They both liked doing yoga, meditation, and that they have some of the same sensibilities. For Stephen, who’d been searching for so long, meeting his biological family was a revelation.
“They accepted me,” Stephen said. “In my mind why should they love me, but they do. It’s very deep healing.”

Deep Healing

Total strangers, John and Rhonda have one thing in common, the same father.<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="alignright wp-image-23484 size-medium" src="https://blog-api.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/JR-quote-300x169.jpg" alt="J$R quote" width="300" height="169" srcset="https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/JR-quote-300x169.jpg 300w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/JR-quote-768x432.jpg 768w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/JR-quote-880x495.jpg 880w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/JR-quote-980x553.jpg 980w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/JR-quote.jpg 984w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px" />


The two made that discovery earlier this year after using 23andMe.


“Nobody knew about John,” said Rhonda, a 55 year-old marketer in Buffalo New York.


For John, recently retired and 67 who also lives in the Buffalo area, DNA testing was the only way he would have ever found Rhonda and information about his biological father. For both of them the test helped lead them to clues about their father and a tangled history of multiple families and an ongoing search for siblings spread out through generations and geography.
“I now have a printed family tree that  takes three trees to show and is  so long, it covers the top of two long tables,” said John. “(Testing has) been a positive experience for me and a healing experience for the family. I&#8217;ve been welcomed with open arms.”


Being orphaned, along with his half brother, from his single mom when he was just 10 had been so traumatic for John, that he blanked out all the memory of his childhood. He couldn’t even remember his mother’s face until a few years ago when he saw a photo of her for the first time. That had been out of sheer luck, after a mutual acquaintance connected him to his cousin and elderly aunt. John believes it may have been more than luck with a little help from his mother, watching from above.
It was his aunt and cousins who had the photo and tidbits about his mother. John and his family enjoyed a series of reunions in the US and in Italy over the past 5 years. His aunt also shared with John the one bit of information she had about his biological father, his father’s first name.
<div id="attachment_23482" style="width: 210px" class="wp-caption alignright"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-23482" class="size-thumbnail wp-image-23482" src="https://blog-api.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/John-Vitale-200x200.jpg" alt="John Vitale" width="200" height="200" />John Vitale</div>
“There is no way I could have identified the family on my father&#8217;s side,” he said. “All I had to go on was his name was Marvin, and I only learned that a couple of years ago.”


But for both John and Rhonda using 23andMe to explore their ancestry changed not just what they knew about their families and their background, but their understanding about themselves.
John had thought he was Italian, but was “shocked” to learn he was half Ashkenazi Jew on his father’s side.


“I knew nothing about my father, I assumed he was Italian,” said John. “My mother&#8217;s family is Italian with roots in Sicily and Milan.   I was raised Catholic.”
Learning about his Jewish ancestry, didn’t change his beliefs, but it did change his perceptions.


“It has made me more sensitive and curious of the Jewish faith,” he said.


For Rhonda, who was raised by a Jewish mother, learning about about her biological mother’s Catholic background put certain things about herself in context. It also raised a lot of “nature versus nurture issues” for her.


“I grew up as an only child, in a family that I was very different from,” she said. “I look nothing like, or act nothing like, my adopted mother or father.”


And then there was the connection she made using 23andMe to her biological family for the first time – not just to John, but also to a full sister named Trisha.
That connection with her sister was so strong that Rhonda wonders if there’s a chance that they might actually be twins separated and adopted out to different families.


“When I met Trisha, it felt like I was talking to myself,” Rhonda said. “The similarities were astounding.”


23andMe also helped Rhonda connect with her oldest living half-sibling, who is unrelated to John. She was one of the 2 children born to her mother when her mother was in an internment camp in Germany. It was that woman, Danuta, who gave Rhonda much of what she knows about her mother, including her mother’s history with Marvin and the other children she bore him.
<div id="attachment_23483" style="width: 210px" class="wp-caption alignright"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-23483" class="size-thumbnail wp-image-23483" src="https://blog-api.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/rhoried-pic-200x200.jpg" alt="Rhonda Ried" width="200" height="200" />Rhonda Ried</div>
All of Rhonda’s full siblings were adopted by other families, she said. At least two of whom she’s connected with through 23andMe. Rhonda discovered she has 5 full siblings and 6 half siblings, including John. And there could be more, she said.
Now both Rhonda and John are hoping that they will be able to connect with other siblings. They are aware of two sisters in Arizona.


“We are becoming acquainted with members of the family living around the country,” John said.


They have scheduled a virtual family reunion on Skype in a few weeks, but their search continues.


“I fully expect we’ll find others,” said John. “We’ll just keep looking.”

Finding Family — Page 2