With one Facebook message, Kieron was introduced to a whole new branch of his family — one of whom likely walks past him every day on campus.
On Tuesday, Graham received the results of the test in an email. He received about 100 loose matches to potential family members, and one strong match to a 29-year-old man named "Vincent Ghant" who had also taken an Ancestry DNA test.
He quickly found a Vincent Ghant on Facebook and realized the birthday listed on the page matched with a date on documents he and his adoptive parents had.
He friend-requested Ghant and sent him a message that day.
Vincent Ghant / Facebook
Ghant told BuzzFeed News he did not immediately recognize the name when he received the DM. (Graham's first name was changed shortly after he was adopted). But when Graham mentioned the name of their mom, Shawn, "my heart stopped," Ghant said.
Ghant had actually spent time with Graham when he was a baby and remembers him vividly.
"I asked my mother about him throughout my life, but the pain was so heavy on her that it was hard for her to drum up the worlds to explain it to me...so it just got to the point where I was, like, I'll just wait for her when she's ready," he said.
Kieron Christian Graham
The two quickly realized they were not only brothers by blood, but that they were both currently attending Kennesaw State, in their Junior years of school, and pursuing Political Science. "And it turns out he lives 15 minutes away from me," Graham added.
Ghant, who's nine years older, received his associates from another college and took some time off before enrolling back in school at Kennesaw in the same year as Graham.
The two even have a class at the same time and suspect that they must have walked right past each other at one point — if not on many, many occasions.
"The little bit of time I had with him came racing back," Ghant said, as they were messaging each other.
Kieron Christian Graham
The brothers finally met at a local bar this week. Graham recalled Ghant telling him, "I've been thinking about you for 20 years." Ghant told BuzzFeed News the entire meeting was "very emotional."
"I was excited but a little bit scared if he had any resentment towards my family," Ghant said.
But Graham told BuzzFeed News he holds no ill-feelings toward their mother nor his entire birth family, and that he completely understands why his birth mother decided it was ultimately best for him to be put up for adoption.
(Both Graham and Ghant cited that their mother was a struggling single mother and full-time nurse working 15+ hours a day at the time).
"When I realized he didn't [have resentment] and that he had a great life, I was amazed," Ghant said.
Kieron Christian Graham
Graham has been in contact with his birth mother, and they plan to formally meet this weekend. On top of everything else, he's also met Ghant's younger 17-year-old brother, Christian, which is Graham's middle name given by their birth mother (and coincidentally kept by Graham's adoptive parents this whole time).
Ghant believes it must all be a stroke of "fate" that they were all able to meet each other in 2017. "My little brother didn't know we have another brother...he's excited as well."
For their mother, Ghant said it's been an "emotional roller coaster" to put it simply. "She's super excited, but half the time she's also sad [and] fearful. She wants him to understand why she had to do what she had to do. But overall she's very excited."
BuzzFeed News has reached out to their mom and will update the story if and/or when she wants to speak after the long-awaited meeting.
Kieron Christian Graham
Graham's adoptive parents have been wholly supportive of his journey of discovery. They also plan to meet Graham's birth mother and that entire side of the family, he said.
Graham said his parents have assured him that no matter what happens, they'll be standing alongside him, emotionally and literally, the entire time.
"They said, 'we want you to know them...if you don't want to, that's OK too,'" he relayed.
Kieron Christian Graham
from BuzzFeed - USNews http://ift.tt/2kxKtba
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