Man reunites with his biological siblings after 75 years of adoption: “A Christmas miracle”

Dixon Handshaw, 75, believed for most of his life that he was an only child. This American, who was adopted, recently found out that he had several siblings. In the middle of the Christmas season, he decided to meet them.

Just around Christmas, Handshaw, who lives in North Carolina, traveled to Rochester, New York, where he met some of his half-siblings before the family Christmas holiday.

“I had great adoptive parents. They were wonderful. I love you and miss you, “But I always wanted to have brothers and now I have them,” Dixon Handshaw told CNN, adding that “All my life I dreamed of having brothers.”

(Also read: Mother and daughter staged a moving reunion after 41 years apart: “Miracles exist”)

The man, born in Buffalo, New York, in 1949, was adopted at three months old. Although he mentions that he had a very happy childhood, he always dreamed of having siblings.

His adoptive parents were always very honest about his adoption, but what he didn’t know was that he had siblings on his biological father’s side. Thanks to a pre-adoption certificate, he was able to discover that he had more relatives.

“I always wanted to find them, but the state of New York sealed the pre-adoption birth certificates and it was impossible to find out,” he said.

In 2020, the original birth certificates were made public and in August of this year he got the best news of his life. There he learned that his biological name was Robert Romig.

After obtaining this information, he decided to search for his father’s name through social networks and was surprised to discover that “I had all these brothers and a sister.”

The striking resemblance between the brothers led Handshaw to contact one of them. Although he did not know the reasons for his adoption, he learned that his father was a graduate student at Cornell University and his mother was a secretary in the institution’s Physics department.

Handshaw contacted Gary Romig, one of his father’s adopted children, choosing him because they were both adopted. “I thought you would be empathetic to my situation,” he stated.

Through a phone call and a photograph of their father, they immediately understood that they were brothers. Later, each of them learned of the existence of Handshaw.

(Also read: Painful case of a mother who had to give her daughter up for adoption: “I have never felt resentment”)

Screenshot ABC WHAM

“He arrived in Rochester with the hope of meeting his family. After a strong and long-awaited hug, they sealed their love and the wait for a dream moment. “It is a true christmas miracle“, he said and added “that’s what I call it, my own Christmas miracle.”

Thus, he managed to meet with more than 50 relatives whose existence was unknown at the beginning of this year. Now, they remain in constant communication and hope to make up for lost time.

“We write to each other every day… I thought one or two brothers would be great, but I have six,” concluded Handshaw, excited to be reunited with his family after several years of adoption.

(Also read: She was adopted in Colombia 41 years ago and taken to France: she dreamed of knowing her roots)