'I know where I come from now': Woman tracks down biological father after more than 30 years
Right in time for Father's Day, a woman in Arizona found her biological father after more than 30 years.
"I'm not gonna lie, I'm excited to send a Father's Day card," Whitney Thompson, 33, . "It's really cool to actually talk to him and kind of share who we are and things that we like, stuff like that."
Thompson's first clues to find and meet her birth father were found in her mother's journal, which included details about the night she met a man named Chuck from Michigan in 1988.
"All these years I didn't know who it was and she didn't know who it was and this DNA test really opened up a lot of doors," Thompson said.
Eventually, using Ancestry.com, Thompson was able to track down her first cousins. From there, she used groups on Facebook to dig deeper into her family history.
"One was for Ancestry, and I said, 'hey you know this is kind of the dilemma that I have, I feel like if you have any advice, I could probably find out who he is,'" Thompson said.
Within two weeks, a member of one of the groups was able to track down "Chuck," a man named Charles Shirey who didn't know he had a daughter.
When Thompson first spoke with her biological father, she found out she has two sisters. She also found out that she and her father share more than DNA — they have the same birthday.
"He sent me a birthday card in the mail that said love dad in it, I ended up breaking down in tears," she said.
Thompson is making plans to meet her newly discovered family members in person soon.
"I feel complete, I know who I am, I know where I come from now," she said.