When Whit Johnson, a journalist at ABC News, took an online DNA test, he had no idea that it would completely throw his life around.
At first, the man wasn’t too keen on taking a DNA test to find out more about his background, but he’s glad that his mom and wife were able to convince him otherwise.
“My mother convinced me to take this test on 23andMe because she wanted to know what more about my ethnic, regional and national background. My dad was adopted in 1950 in Salt Lake City. We knew that, but we knew nothing about his biological family,” he wrote for ABC.
The ethnic background of his father has always been a controversial discussion topic, as Whit’s dad didn’t want to create some sort of tension between himself and his adoptive parents. Despite being curious, he never took any further steps to find out more about his family lineage.
Whit’s parents divorced a couple of years ago, and his mom couldn’t stand the curiosity anymore. She told him that she ordered a DNA test for him.
At first, I was reluctant, thinking, ‘What difference does it make?'”, Whit recalls.
“But both my wife and my mom convinced me. My mom literally walked out with the test tube and said, ‘All you have to do is spit in this. We’ll fill out the online profile together, and then you wait for the results.'”
The online DNA test service, 23andMe, also has a feature on their website that automatically links relatives to each other via the DNA results.
The reporter took the test and sent the package back to the company for analysis. After about a month, he got his results.
At first, he could see a detailed overview of his ethnic background. Whit had a few genetic markers for Western European, British/Irish/Scottish, but it turns out a part of him was also Basque Spanish and Native American too. He didn’t think much of the results at first and figured it must’ve been from his father’s side.
Then he discovered his DNA relatives on the website.
Based on the DNA test results, Whit was able to find a couple of (very) distant relatives, up to fifth cousins. A lot of his relatives were Spanish, but there was one relative that distinctively stood out from the rest.
Labeled under ‘Your Immediate Family’, Whit assumed that he would find his mother on the website since she was also registered.
“It actually warns people, like, ‘Hey, get ready for some potential surprises,’ kind of thing. I clicked on it, and, there, I see my mother. I was expecting that, but one other relative popped up, and it said, ‘Possible first cousin.'”
“I looked at that, and I started thinking, ‘My mother has siblings, but they didn’t have any kids.’ As far as I know, I don’t have any first cousins, but I was thinking, ‘First cousin, that’s a close relative. That’s the immediate under the umbrella of your grandparents.'”
When he looked at the profile of his first cousin, he couldn’t believe what he was seeing.
“The picture blew my mind. My jaw dropped. I fell back into my chair, and I had to turn away from the computer for a moment and just think about this for a second because I saw a picture of a man who looks exactly like my dad.”
It didn’t take long before the reporter realized that he must’ve come across his father’s brother on the DNA matching site. Not knowing anything about the biological parents of Whit’s father, it definitely was a real possibility.
Whit, absolutely flabbergasted, wasn’t really sure how to take things one step further.
“What do I do? How do I tell my dad?”
The journalist then phoned his mom to tell her about the shocking discovery he made. She then got in touch with Whit’s father, and apparently, he wanted to know what his son had just found out.
Whit reached out to the relative via the online platform.
It didn’t take long before the man responded. Apparently, he had been looking for lost family members for a couple of years but didn’t come across a close relative. Until now.
“I think I’m your dad’s brother,” the man said after sharing details about his story.
The news about his family came as a relief to Whit’s father. It was the first massive step into a new and uncharted journey, but Whit was there to guide him through it.
As you can imagine, the whole thing was incredibly emotional for the whole family. Whit’s father and his brother then exchanged emails with each other that very same day.
Father, son, and uncle decided to meet.
Funnily enough, Whit previously worked in Salt Lake City as reporter/anchor for the news which is also the hometown of the long-lost brother.
The family members instantly bonded as if they knew each other already. The two siblings laughed at the fact that they share a lot of the same traits, habits, and characteristics.
And the shocking news didn’t stop there.
Whit’s uncle also had a daughter, meaning that Whit’s family significantly expanded in just a single day. The two siblings then proceeded to look at a couple of birth documents, and they’ve discovered that there’s another brother around somewhere in Wyoming.
They were able to get in touch with this third sibling and told their amazing story. He was also given up for adoption, but he actually had contact with his biological mom, unlike the two others.
The three brothers then came together as well, and they discovered more about their family thanks to each other’s stories and old photographs.
Chances are pretty high that this won’t be the last family discovery, as the three brothers are certain that there’s also a sister out there somewhere that they haven’t been able to reach yet.
In other words, this could just be the start of an amazing and incredible story.
Please SHARE this with your friends and family.
