Sonoma County Man Finds Birth Mother Through Genetic Testing

COTATI, CA — Mother's Day 2019 will be extra special for one North Bay man. In a story shared with Patch by 23andMe, a Cotati resident just returned from a whirlwind trip to New York City where he met his birth mother for the very first time.

Jacob, whose last name was not provided, is an adoptee whose many attempts at finding his birth family, health history or ancestry have yielded little to no results — until he used a 23andMe kit to test his DNA.

The test results showed he had a match with a woman, his aunt. In looking at photos posted online by his newfound aunt, he decided the woman beside her in many photos, Natalie, had to be none other than his birth mother. He started scouring the internet for Natalie's contact information and when he found her business phone number, he immediately gave her a call. Tears welled up at the sound of her voice. She also cried tears of joy.

According to 23andMe:

Jacob was raised by loving parents and always knew he was adopted. But the question of who his birth mom was always lingered, and he began searching years ago. Natalie, too, had been looking, even resorting to using a private investigator. Despite all their efforts neither Jacob nor Natalie were able to find each other.

When Jacob finally got her contact information and called her, it was as if Natalie had been waiting by the phone just for his call. Almost immediately after he told her that he thought they might be related, Natalie asked him:

"Are you my son?"

Jacob thought he might be, so Natalie asked him if his birthday was Nov. 24, 1990.

"Yes," he said.

They both immediately burst into tears.

As mother and son were getting to know each other through emails and calls, Natalie sent Jacob a parcel that included several birthday cards for the birthdays she'd missed since giving birth to Jacob and then placing him for adoption. The cards were also a way for Natalie to cope with missing out on her son's life.

Jacob and Natalie were among four families 23andMe flew to New York City the first weekend of May to celebrate their first Mother's Day together. For the first time, he got to hug the neck of the woman who carried him for nine months before giving birth to him.

They were all smiles.

23andMe tells Patch that next up, Jacob will meet his four half-brothers.