- Rhys Williams, 27, says he is overjoyed to have found his older brother
- Stoke-on-Trent lecturer began tracing his family history ‘for laughs’
- The brothers meet and say they look forward to seeing each other again
This is the heartwarming moment a man meets the brother he didn’t know existed for 27 years – after a search of his biological father’s family tree revealed he had a sibling.
Rhys Williams, 27, was nine years old when his mother died and he discovered the man who raised him was not his biological father.
After being told by his cousins, Rhys went on to be raised by his stepfather and tried to find out more about his long-lost family at the age of 18, but was unsuccessful.
He took a DNA test for fun in January 2022 and uploaded his results to MyHeritage.com, but heartbreakingly discovered that his birth father had died six years earlier.
However, the results revealed something incredible – unbeknownst to Mr Williams, he had a sibling, Chris Jones, 53.
After connecting and talking on Zoom, Chris is driving two and a half hours to surprise his brother Rhys this month.
Rhys thought his brother had arranged for a videographer to come to his home to interview him for his story.
But to Rhys’s surprise, Chris appeared in his living room.
Chris said: “I was driving there and had to send the operator a secret message to tell him I was there.
“I sent him a message saying ‘I’m delivering the batteries for your camera’, then he came to the door and I went into the house to surprise Rhys.
“It was a wonderful moment.”
Rhys, a university lecturer from Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire, said: “It was a very different experience for me.
“I had no idea Chris was going to surprise me, but looking back now there were so many clues.”
He continued: “I went from realizing ‘there’s your biological father’ to realizing he’s passed away and realizing no one else is going to look like me.
“It was crazy for me to meet Chris, who is my blood and is older. I know I will have a very good hairline in about 20 years.
“I feel like another piece of the puzzle has been completed. The puzzle started out as a big question mark, but now it’s filling in.
“I feel like this is the time it was meant to be and now it happened.”
Chris, a global logistics buyer from Longcote, Oxfordshire, said: “I always knew I was adopted.
“I grew up as an only child. I had very good adoptive parents and a good upbringing.
“But it would have been nice to have done all this about 20 years ago.
“It’s great how it all happened now. I never had a younger brother. It’s a different experience.
“We get along very well. We went out to dinner after we met and had a great meal.
The brothers plan to build on their relationship and meet again next month.
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