Best friends Alan Robinson and Walter Macfarlane of Hawaii are in shock after finding out through an DNA test that they are brothers.
The two met each other in the 6th grade, and they have been inseparable ever since. At no point in their almost 60-year friendship did they imagine they could have been related, let alone brothers. “It was an overwhelming experience. It’s still overwhelming. I don’t know how long it’s going to take to get over this feeling,” Robinson said. “This is the best Christmas present I could ever imagine having.”
Robinson was adopted as a child, and Macfarlane never knew his birth father. The friend decided to take AncestryDNA tests together to try to find some answers. Macfarlane enlisted the help of his daughter to go through his matches. She revealed to him that one of his top matches had the username Robi737. His best friend, Robinson, had the nickname ‘Robi’ and also flew 737s for Aloha Airlines. As fate would have it, they share the same birth mother.
It’s important not to send emails to everyone on your DNA match list. Adoption can be a sensitive topic, and you could do more harm than good that way. There are ways of working through DNA matches to find birth parents without identifying yourself to everyone else first. You can read more about that here.
Ancestry has a database with over 5 million users. Their DNA test kit has a small sample tube for the collection of saliva. It has easy to use instructions and a fill line on the tube. Once the lab has received your sample, processing takes approximately 6 to 8 weeks. When your results are ready, you will be sent an email with a link to your DNA matches.
