Decades-Long Friends Learn They’re Biological Brothers

OAHU, HI — Two lifelong best friends in Oahu, Hawaii, got what they call a "Christmas miracle" when one of them began searching for his birth parents and the other for a father he never knew. To their surprise and delight, they found out they’re biological brothers.

Alan Robinson and Walter Macfarlane, both in their 60s, have been best friends since sixth grade. Only 15 months apart in age, they’ve found much in common over the years. They have been challenging each other at cribbage all their lives. They played football together in high school. And now that they know they’re brothers, they plan to spend time together traveling and enjoying their retirement.

Macfarlane never knew his father, and Robinson was adopted.

After social media searches failed, Macfarlane’s daughter, Cindy Macfarlane-Flores, started digging into family DNA matching websites, she told KHON-TV.

Meanwhile, Robinson was trying to connect the branches on his family tree. His younger brother was 19 when he died, “so I never had nieces or nephews,” Robinson told the TV station. “I thought, ‘I’ll never know my birth mother, I’ll never have any nieces or nephews.’ ”

They discovered through their independent searches they had identifical X chromosomes and had been born to the same mother. That, they figured out, explained a genetic trait both share — hairy arms.

They shared their happy discovery with family and friends Saturday night at a pre-Christmas gathering.

“It was an overwhelming experience, it’s still overwhelming,” Robinson said, telling the TV station this has been the best Christmas gift of his life.

“It really is a Christmas miracle and we’re just so happy that we found it,” Macfarlane-Flores said.

» Read more on KHOU-TV.

AP Photo/Jaime Dunaway: File