Two families in Oahu, Hawaii, received some unexpected news recently.
Two men, who had been searching for their respective families their entire lives, finally found the family ties they had been looking for. There is just one thing that these two men, who also happened to be best friends, did not expect: They were brothers.
Alan Robinson and Walter Macfarlane are one and a half year apart in age and had been friends for over 60 years. They met when they were just children in grade school and would have never expected to be biologically related.
How did they find out they were related by blood?
The men decided to search for their parents through various channels, such as social media, DNA tests, and other types of family history websites. Both men were born and raised in Hawaii, met when they were in sixth grade, and played football at Punahou.
They spent most of their lives growing up in the same environment, and although they liked and disliked different things, they still remained very good friends.
“He was the party-er; I never went to or did any partying in high school,” Macfarlane said.
Both brothers also love to play cribbage. According to Macfarlane, the brothers had been playing cribbage together for most of their lives.
“I beat him the last time we played,” Robinson said.
Robinson had been adopted, and Macfarlane had never known his father.
“I had a younger brother that I lost when he was 19, so I never had nieces or nephews. I thought I’ll never know my birth mother, I’ll never have any nieces or nephews,” Robinson said.
On his side, Macfarlane decided he wanted to find his father and know more about his family. For years, he searched for answers but could never find any positive results. As the years went by, technology improved and specific information became more and more accessible. He recently looked on social media and the internet, as well, but he still didn’t have any luck in finding about his origins.
With the help of his family, Macfarlane finally turned to family DNA matching websites.
“So, then we started digging into all the matches he started getting,” Cindy Macfarlane-Flores, Macfarlane’s daughter, explained.
They found an odd username at the top of the DNA matches list: Robi737. That username’s DNA characteristics and Macfarlane’s characteristics oddly had a lot in common. They were characterized by various matches, which included identical X chromosomes. Macfarlane also recognized the username of his best friend.
“As a nickname, everybody called him Robi, and he flew 737s for Aloha Airlines, he was a pilot,” Cindy Macfarlane-Flores said.
Apparently, Robinson had been using family DNA matching websites, as well, as he had been searching for his biological family.
Macfarlane called his best friend, and after a couple of phone calls, both men found out that they shared the same birth mother.
“It was a shock,” Macfarlane said.
“Yea it was shock, definitely. And then we thought about it and compared forearms,” Robinson said.
“Yea hairy arms, that did it!” Macfarlane said.
The two men shared their shocking but exciting discovery with their friends and family.
“It was an overwhelming experience; it’s still overwhelming. I don’t know how long it’s going to take for me to get over this feeling,” Robinson said. “This is the best Christmas present I could ever imagine having.”
“It really is a Christmas miracle, and we’re just so happy that we found it,” Macfarlane-Flores said.
The two men plan to travel and fully enjoy their retirement together now that the initial shock has set in.
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