An Answered Prayer: I Found My Real Dad with MyHeritage DNA

The father who raised us was not a very nice man. He was an alcoholic, and violent. My mother divorced him when I was 7–8 years old and he moved to California to try to get out of paying child support.

A few years ago, my siblings and I thought about using DNA to check if we might have half-siblings in California. So, we decided to purchase DNA kits and check.

We bought the kits on Father’s Day 2018. There was a special campaign, so I purchased a lot of kits. I gave one to my aunt, my mother’s sister. I didn’t want her to spit into a test tube, because I assumed it would disgust her and she would refuse — so I bought MyHeritage DNA, because it’s more pleasant and convenient to swab the cheek.

The results came back on November 3, 2018. The truth is that I didn’t pay attention to the DNA matches at all, but only to the ethnicity. I was surprised that my brother and I had different origins, so I called support and spoke to a MyHeritage representative and told him that something was unclear about the results. He checked my account and guided me on how to enter the DNA matches page.

I looked at the results: all my siblings appeared as half-siblings. I told the representative, “Oh, your program is all wrong.”

“No, ma’am,” answered the support representative, “it’s not wrong.”

I was always a little different

My mother passed away so I couldn’t ask her, and I had no answers. After a few days of crying and confusion, I asked my aunt if she knew who my biological dad was. There was silence on the other end of the phone line. I realized there was something here.

My aunt told me that she thought that I had a different dad than the other kids, my whole life. I played and acted differently. She said that my mother dated a man who was way older than her, and was known as “Dutch.” Beyond that she didn’t have any more information.

In retrospect, I was always a little different from my siblings. I always had good hands, I knew how to fix things, I spent a lot of time at grandma and grandpa’s house. Things suddenly started to become clear to me.

Since I had no close matches that could help me get to the father’s side, I joined a group on Facebook called NPE — not parent expected. There they explained to me that for there to be a match, both parties must be in the same genetic pool. So I did tests at every possible company, uploaded my DNA to various databases, and waited. Every day I prayed to God that I would at least know my father’s name — because I assumed that the chance of him living, at the age of 90 plus, was very small.

My granddaughter offered to help me. She got all the passwords for my accounts and went through all the available information. In February, she said I got a match to a 1st cousin once removed. With some genealogical detective work, she was able to track down a 91-year-old man who was clearly a relative of mine on my father’s side, living in Florida.

‘Could you be my biological father?’

I wrote him a letter and mailed it. In the letter I told him who I was and why I was contacting him: to see if he knew anyone who dated my mother in 1954. I thought he may have had an older brother or cousin who did, because he was only 3 years older than my mom and not “way” older.

A few days passed, and on March 21, 2024, my phone rang; a man was on the line. We talked for a bit at first, and then I asked him:

“Do you know anyone who dated my mother, Elaine King, in 1954?”

“I did!” he replied.

I told him that my aunt told me that my mom dated a guy named Dutch.

He said, “That’s me! I haven’t heard that name in years!”

I said, “Could you possibly be my biological father?”

He said, “I could be.”

I then asked him if he would be willing to take a DNA test. He said, “Sure, I already have four kids. I wouldn’t mind having another one.”

I had leftover kits, so I suggested that I send him one to check if he is the father. He willingly agreed.

My daughter sent the kit as fast as possible. He performed the test and sent it to the lab. A few weeks passed and on April 19th, the unequivocal result arrived: Father!

Wanda’s birth father

An answered prayer

On Father’s Day I decided to surprise him, and I got to meet him for the first time.

I hugged the man whose identity I had prayed to know for 5.5 years, and I sang him a song at his church.

I got to kiss him, hug him, and watch football and golf with him. I feel blessed to have been given this privilege. God answers prayers.

He is the complete opposite of the father I had as a child: doesn’t drink, doesn’t smoke. Hugging, loving, caring. We talk almost every day on the phone and he always starts the conversation with “What’s new today, sweetheart?”

Wanda meets her dad for the first time

We found out that the doctor who delivered me is the same doctor who delivered his other children and was a family doctor to all of us. We all lived in the same town in Grand Rapids, Michigan, close to each other. My new sister and the brother I grew up with worked at the same workplace.

Wanda and her father enjoy each other’s company

This coming February we will meet again. I will go to visit him together with some of my family members and celebrate his birthday (February 22) with him, and he’ll celebrate my birthday (February 23) with me — our first birthdays together! Then we will get to celebrate together with some of his new family and he will meet some of my children and grandchildren — his grandchildren and great-grandchildren.

I am truly happy and blessed. 😇

Many thanks to Wanda for sharing this wonderful story — and her beautiful singing — with us! If you’ve also made an incredible discovery using MyHeritage, we’d love to hear about it. Please share it with us using this form or email us at stories@myheritage.com.