Susana Boggs, a 50-year-old doctor’s assistant from Richmond, Texas, was raised without a father. Though her mother never spoke about it, there was a family friend named Nano who sometimes came to Susana’s birthday parties, and her sister suspected that he might have been Susana’s father. However, after Susana turned 12, Nano stopped visiting and they didn’t see him again. Years later, Susana did a MyHeritage DNA test, and a match with a cousin led her to confirm that Nano was her biological father and to reconnect with him at last.
Watch their moving story here:
A man named Nano
Susana and her sister were raised without a father. She remembers that, as a child, at every birthday, a friend of her mother’s named Nano would visit her. He would bring his two children and give her presents.
It was her sister who pointed out that perhaps there was more to Nano than meets the eye. “I always thought he was a friend of the family, but one time my sister, who was 4 years older, told me: ‘Nano’s daughter looks exactly like you! Nano is your father,’” Susana recalls. “I got mad and told her it’s wrong and asked her to stop saying that. The fact is that Nano was very tall, and I was much taller than my sisters and my mother.”
Not long after Susana’s mother remarried, Nano stopped coming to visit Susana on her birthdays. She now understands that the new husband must have been uncomfortable with the relationship between Nano and her mother and didn’t want Nano to come to the house.
Susana was never close with her stepfather. Over the years, Susana would ask her mother about her biological father, but her mother refused to answer. Not long ago, Susana’s mother moved in with her, and Susana tried once again to uncover the truth about her biological father. “I asked her again and again, but she didn’t give an answer about my father’s identity or about Nano,” says Susana.
MyHeritage DNA to the rescue
Eventually Susana realized she would have to uncover the truth on her own, and this past April, she purchased 2 DNA kits. When her results came in, all she saw were matches to distant relatives.
But then, months later, Susana received a notification of a new DNA match. It was a woman in her 20’s named Ruby Morales who shared 3% of Susana’s DNA — meaning she could be a first cousin once removed.
“I decided to send her a message asking her if she knows a man named Nano and wrote that it’s urgent,” Susana recalls. “I thought to myself, ‘She will probably think I’m crazy, but I’ve nothing to lose.’” She hoped to get an answer, but prepared herself for the possibility that she wouldn’t get one.
The next day, while Susana was at work, she saw she had a new message on MyHeritage. It was from Ruby. She had replied that yes, there was a man in the family who everyone called Uncle Nano.
Susana was overcome with emotion. “I started to cry. I went to get some fresh air, because I felt that I couldn’t breathe. I wrote back to my match that I’ve been looking for Nano for many years and asked her to give him my phone number.”
She went back home and obsessively checked her phone, hoping to get an answer. “I went to bed but couldn’t sleep,” she says. “Suddenly, I got a message in Spanish on my mobile phone: ‘Hi, my name is Lori, Nano is my uncle.’ I called her and she told me that she visited Nano and he asked her about my mother and siblings’ identity and said that we are immediate family.”
Lori sent Susana a photo of her as a baby, that Nano had always kept in his wallet. Nano, whose full name is Servando De Los Santos, had been looking for Susana for many years, but couldn’t find her because she had changed her name when she married.
Reunited at last
Nano had two other children who were Susana’s half-siblings. Unfortunately, Susana’s half-sister — who she remembers vaguely from the birthday visits — passed away from cancer not long before Susana took her DNA test. It is a bittersweet gift for Nano to welcome the daughter he’d been missing for so long back into his life so soon after losing his other daughter.
Nano and his son Armando (Susana’s half-brother) drove 12 hours to meet Susana in her home for the first time. They were overjoyed and overcome with emotion to meet again, this time as father and daughter. They hope to see a lot more of each other going forward. After all, they have a whole lifetime to catch up on.
Years ago, Gina McClelland met her biological father for the first and last time. After almost four decades of growing up without him, she Googled him, and ended up spending 3 hours with him at a mall. During that visit, he revealed that she...
Erna Rusi, a MyHeritage user from Finland, was raised without knowing her biological father. A year ago she took a MyHeritage DNA test and received a match with a relative. With excellent research work and a lot of tenacity, she was able to find...
For the last two weeks, entries from the #MyHolidayHeritage Challenge poured in from all across the globe. Though this year’s holidays will likely look a bit different than years prior, many of your family holiday traditions will continue to flourish. Thank you all for...
If someone asked you to name the first Christmas song that comes to mind, you’ll very likely answer “Jingle Bells.” The cheerful classic has become a universally recognized icon of Christmas, right along with Santa Claus, wreaths of holly, and the colors red, white,...
With many people around the world stuck at home last spring, many turned to genealogy and began delving into their roots. Gian Carlo David-Faliva, a 74-year-old MyHeritage user from France, jumped on the bandwagon and started to dig deep into his family’s past, with...
Oh the joy of receiving personalized Seasons Greetings from family and friends! This stalwart tradition of connecting with loved ones around the holidays may have evolved over the years, but the sentiment to share holiday cheer has endured. Still looking to spread holiday joy...
MyHeritage enables millions of users to discover their past and empower their future, and we have played a part in many incredible stories. Recently, a German MyHeritage user, Thomas Edelmann, spoke with us and requested help. His motive? To make a long-overdue apology. Today,...
When Seraine Danner was 7 years old, she learned something earth-shattering: that the man she had known to be her father, wasn’t her biological father. After almost 10 years of searching, a DNA match on MyHeritage finally led her to her birth father, and...
Torsten Simander, 85, from Stockholm was born to a single mom on March 15, 1934. After living for 7 years with his grandparents, he was then raised by his mother Lisa and stepfather. At a young age, Torsten learned that his father was a...
I’ve never met my father either my mother tells me his name was Michael Flaherty. I would really love to find out who he is and meet him and let my children meet their grandfather
Riitta
February 8, 2021
I had my DNA test, but have no surprises to date. My husband had his DNA test done also and at first there were no surprises either. But now, four years later someone from England got in touch with us claiming to have a match to my husband’s DNA. He said he had been raised without a father and only knew his first name. His mother had passed away but he had hoped to one day find his father. He sent his own photo. I immediately saw the likeness to my husband’s cousin and the first name matched. I thought he needed the information and gave it with a phone number. After 54 years he got in touch with his biological father and several other siblings. After so many years as an only child, he was happy to find himself a large family. It is a happy ending, they were able to celebrate the past Christmas together as a family. – With DNA secrets will not stay hidden anymore.
Theresa Faison
February 8, 2021
Thanks for sharing your beautiful story. I’ve never met my biological father. Mom wad never married to him. She never disclosed who he was til after I became an adult, and even then she only referred to him as “Chico” and that he lived in Michigan. Mom died of cancer 7/1/11. I find him someday. I have no hard feelings only curiosity. My mother’s husband raised me as his own and we were very close.
Maritza Smith
February 15, 2021
Hi such a touching story it is so awesome when you can’t reunite with a loss relative. I myself will like to know my biological father for all my years in life I don’t know I do not have any information I don’t have my biological father name I only have nickname my uncle told me that they call him lLen Len and my aunt told me that is name is Marquito Powell that is the only information that hi have .hi really need help my DNA is in your files thank you and hi will really love to hear from you all .
Myrna Amore Ordinado
January 30, 2021
wonderful story.Thank you for sharing