Guatamalan Teen Finds Brother After 23 and Me test

“Gabe McBride is like any other fourteen year old. He loves basketball, music and riding his bike.

But there’s also something really special about him.

“I’d see my friends and their brothers and sisters fighting and I would think, what would that be like?” said Gabe.

Gabe’s parents adopted him from Guatemala when he was three months old.

“He started asking about his birth mom, and that led me to call the adoption agency that was used in Minneapolis,” said Susie McBride, Gabe’s mom.

The McBrides didn’t just track down Gabe’s birth mother. They tracked down an entire family in Guatemala; his mother, father, and older brother and younger sister.

It was a once in a lifetime opportunity for Gabe to see where he came from, to feel that connection that only comes with blood. But when your roots are planted so very far away, it can be hard to hang on.

“That was a beautiful thing but it was bittersweet as well,” said Susie. “There’s this family that lives so far away and doesn’t speak English and lives in a third world country and lives in poverty.”

But Gabe’s biological parents had another surprise.

“They gave us information that there were two more children that were also adopted into the United States… an older sister and a younger brother.”

That’s when Gabe’s mother turned to 23andMe, a DNA test service that tells you about your ancestry. It also lists other family members who have taken the test.

The McBrides expected to find a distant relative that would maybe help piece together the puzzle of Gabe’s biological family.

“I thought maybe a cousin…. I didn’t [I’d find] think a sibling… but I did,” said Gabe.

Gabe found his brother William, who lives in Atlanta.

“When we got to the airport in Atlanta, there was this instant bond,” Gabe said.

“Just to see the similarities… that was really remarkable.,” said Susie. “They both played percussion in the band at school, they were both in choir at the school, the both basically had the same exact eyeglass frames and similar haircuts and braces and interest in basketball and sports.”

For Gabe it was an adventure that brought him a lifelong friend, a confidant… someone who understands him the way that only a brother could.

“He’s always someone that I can talk to really and not be judged,” said Gabe. “He’s always there so it feels good.”

The McBrides are hoping to track down Gabe and William’s sister next.

All the know is that she’s about 17 year old, and adopted by a family in the U.S.”

Northern Michigan teen finds long lost brother through 23andMe

[Up North Live 8/6/19 by Kristen Lowe]

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