Jacob Milhan calls his adoptive parents his “saving angels,” but he still always felt an urge to find his biological parents. Thanks to an online DNA test, he did — and their emotional reunion racked up thousands of likes on Facebook, with hundreds more comments, as people around the world were touched by the video.
Milhan shared his story with Bay News 9, which covers the Tampa Bay area. He received a DNA kit for Christmas, which connected him to a first cousin. He sent her a message, and she responded. “She said, ‘I know your mom. She’s alive. She’s well,” Milhan recalled. His biological mother’s name was Thea King, and Milhan’s cousin immediately called her. “I knew it was him immediately, she didn’t need to say anything else,” King said, and explained the circumstances behind her decision to choose adoption. “I was pretty much single at that point in my life, and I knew I couldn’t give him what he deserved. I wanted the best for him. I knew that I had placed him with a good home. I took about five and a half months to find the good home through the Catholic Charities.”
READ: Man reunites with his biological parents… and officiates their wedding
After texting and calling each other, King told Milhan his biological father’s name: Martin Franks, and the two of them also began to talk. Milhan arranged a visit with King, but he was in for a massive shock when both of his biological parents arrived, King from South Carolina and Franks from Colorado.
A neighbor captured this emotional moment as a #NewPortRichey man who was given up for adoption met his birth parents for the first time yesterday – his 32nd birthday. Details coming up on @BN9. pic.twitter.com/53D5dwBmGh
— Sarah Blazonis (@SarahBlazonis) April 23, 2019
A neighbor recorded as the three met each other for the first time, Milhan crouching on the floor in tears as King sobbed. It was Milhan’s 32nd birthday. “I couldn’t get to him fast enough. It was that missing piece,” King said, while Franks added, “You feel like you’re a strong man, you don’t cry. But, man, I’ll tell you what – the tears were flowing. I just – I found my happy.”
For Milhan, who is currently expecting his fifth child, finding his biological parents has meant the world to him. “Doesn’t matter how far apart, how distant, how long it’s been,” he said. “Family is family, blood is blood, and that’s all that matters.”
“Like” Live Action News on Facebook for more pro-life news and commentary!
