A woman discovered a son she did not know she had after receiving results from a home DNA test.
Kristin Shoonveld, 52, is adopted and bought a kit in 2019 in the hopes of finding out more about her biological father.
In 1994, Kristin donated her eggs in the hope that she could help a couple have a child. She did not think much more of it, as reported by The Mirror.
However, after receiving her results from a 23andMe DNA test Kristin, from Indiana in the US, saw that she had a son listed on the database.
She said that she believed it was a mistake at first, having never carried a baby of her own.
But after clicking on his profile, she was shocked to see the young man looked like her. And he had joined the platform looking for his biological mother.
Kristin reached out to her son, called Parker Erickson, and the pair arranged to meet.
"It was just instant love," she said.
Parker, from Santa Cruz in California, found out he was conceived via egg donor when he was 14.
And Parker was also very happy to meet Kristin' adopted son Nick who told Kristin he "always wanted a brother."
Kristin said: "We've established a relationship that's going to last the rest of our lives."
It was her adoption of Nick that spurred her to take the DNA test in the first place.
She adopted Nick in 2018 when she married his father but had known the family for years before that.
She first met Nick, a then nine-year-old boy with Down syndrome, while she was working in an SEN school.
She instantly took him under her wing and looked out for him. Before long, she met Nick's mum, Grace, and the pair got on well.
Sadly, Grace was diagnosed with lung cancer and became very unwell. While she was sick, Kristin took on more responsibility for Nick until Grace tragically passed away.
After she died in January 2015, Kristin was there for Nick as she'd always been, but she became concerned about his dad, Brian.
Kristin said: "I was just one of many people who were really worried about how Brian and Nick were going to manoeuver through life," she says. "I was mostly worried about them just being just overwhelmed with grief."
As Kristin spent more time with Brian, the pair fell in love and married in 2018. That same year, she officially adopted Nick.
The adoption was what spurred her on to find out more about her own biological family - and before long, she'd found her biological mother.
Now that she's found Parker too, she is delighted to have two boys to be proud of.
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