Son Lost, And Found: The DNA Test That Changed A LI Man's Life

EAST HAMPTON, NY — For years, Dell Cullum, of East Hampton, lived with the memory of his son, a precious little boy lost to leukemia. But recently, he was given a gift beyond measure when he took a DNA test and found someone he never even knew he'd been looking for — a second son, one he'd never even known existed.

And Father's Day this year suddenly took on new, and joyful, meaning.

Cullum, known on the East End as the founder of Wildlife Rescue of East Hampton, Inc., and his penchant for the area's rich history, holds his memories of his son, Christopher Dell Cullum, close. Christopher, he said, was born on Sept. 12, 1989. He was diagnosed with leukemia on Christmas Eve 1989 and passed away from leukemia on Jan. 3, 1992.

"He was my only child. It was a great loss in my life physically, but spiritually, he continues to live inside me, and remains very much alive," he said.

The loss of his young son shaped Cullum's life and memories. He never had another child.

Until recently, when Cullum announced on Facebook that he had special news.

"This past Christmas I decided to do a DNA test on Ancestry.com," he said. His wife Dee had done one a year earlier and was getting so much genealogical information come back, Cullum felt he had to give it a try.

"It's funny, I sat and thought about a few interesting things as I sealed up the activated sample to ship back," he said. "I thought: 'What if I find out I have a brother or another sister?' 'What if I was to find out that I was adopted?' Most of these thoughts were just crazy, but what was I going to find out?"

Maybe he'd learn that his distant ancestor was "someone cool, like Houdini or Abe Lincoln, or maybe someone not so cool like John Dillinger" — a gangster during the Depression — "or John Wilkes Booth," he said.

"Meanwhile, all along, in the back of my mind while I'm daydreaming of the possibilities, I'm really certain that my past will hold no surprises. After all, I've been doing a lot of research on my family history over the past 10 years and I hadn't found any unexpected relatives," Cullum said.

He took the DNA test, he said, just to see who else that might have taken the test that was related to him.

"Dee's showed a map of all the relatives and where they lived around the world. I think that was the draw that pulled me in," he said.

Unfortunately, about two months later, after hearing nothing, Cullum made a call and learned that'd never activated the sample. The test had to be retaken.

Daunted, he almost decided not to proceeded, then thought: "What the hell, it's already paid for, and there really is no rush," he said.

And so, he took the test again, sent it back — this time, making certain it was activated properly.

On April 1, Cullum returned home from the Keys after picking up his bicycle, and got an email saying his DNA results were done and attached.

"It wasn't all that big a deal, so I finished the day settling back in," he said. At night, he sat at his desk to open the email with the results of the DNA test.

"At the very top of the results, there were two photographs," he said. "One of me, and the other of a young man who looked a bit similar. Over me, the title read 'Parent." Over the young man, it read 'Son.' I stared at it for a good 15 minutes before I realized that I had a son, a 27-year old son, who just turned 28, who was looking for his biological father," Cullum said.

"Needless to say, I was quite surprised but I didn't hesitate to confirm," Cullum said. "It was pretty awesome for both of us."

Then the pandemic hit, and father and son have not yet been able to see one another in person.

But they've been talking for three months, both "anxiously waiting for an opportunity to meet," he said.

This week, that long-awaited meeting is slated to happen.

"I shared the news with my family when I found out and they couldn't be more happy," he said. "It's quite exciting and a great example of the never-ending surprises that life throws at you," Cullum said. "There is no notable figure that could have brought me more joy by being part of my ancestral tree than this young man. His name is Brandon."