Reader\'s Digest Canada - 10.2019

Kathryn Fazekas, 25

Found her biological brother

W

hen I was growing up, my

mom and my older brother

fought a lot. During one par-

ticularly vicious argument, when I was

10, my mom blurted out the fact that

she’d given up a baby for adoption

when she was 16 and living in Halifax.

We had a brother. When my brother

told me, I was angry with my mom for

keeping such a huge secret, but I didn’t

know how to talk to her about it. We

didn’t talk much in my family.

In 2017, my dad bought me a DNA

kit for Christmas. He wanted me to

learn about my roots. By that point, my

mom and I had been estranged for

several years. I did the test in Decem-

ber, and it took three months to pro-

cess. I didn’t expect to find much.

In March 2018, a few matches popped

up on the site, but they were such dis-

tant cousins that I ignored them.

When another match pinged in Sep-

tember, I ignored that one, too. Then I

received a message on Instagram from

a woman in Halifax. She told me her

boyfriend, Tim, was adopted, and he

was looking for his biological rela-

tives. She said that he matched with

me on Ancestry and asked whether I’d

be open to talking.

When I looked at the match on the

company’s site, I saw Tim had uploaded

a profile picture: we had the same grin,

with one eyebrow slightly raised. The

resemblance was uncanny. I cried

happy tears. That night I was so excited

I couldn’t sleep.

The next morning, we exchanged cell

numbers and started texting. “I’m pretty

sure you’re my brother,” I wrote. “I know

I’m your brother,” he said. I loved him

instantly and wanted to know every-

thing about him and his life.

Tim started texting me every day.

“Hey sis!” he’d write. We’d talk about

his job in construction, the family who

adopted him, and our mom—he knew

nothing about her, since it was a closed

adoption. I learned that he’d grown up

in a good family: his adoptive father

was a firefighter and his mom was a

bank manager.

In February of this year, Tim visited

Toronto to meet us in person for din-

ner. As soon as I saw him, I felt like I’d

known him forever. I couldn’t stop

staring at his face. We’ve grown close,

and I hope we stay that way for the rest

of our lives.

FRO© 2019, CHM “FAMRISTINILY TIES,” A GTOONROZALES ANNTO LIFE,D JAKE SCO (JULY 2, 2019), TT.

TORONTOLIFE.COM

MY DAD BOUGHT

ME A DNA KIT FOR

CHRISTMAS. HE

WANTED ME TO LEARN

ABOUT MY ROOTS.

reader’s digest

66 october 2019