WATCH: A home DNA test revealed more than a Sooke man expected. As Luisa Alvarez tells us, spitting into a tube led the man to his birth mom, 50 years after he was adopted.
Michael Ponic held a picture of his birth mother close on Tuesday. It’s the only picture he has of her after she gave him up for adoption in Ontario 50 years ago.
Up until a few weeks ago, Michael had no idea who she was. He had briefly tried to find her years ago but with no luck, had given up on the idea of a reunion.
His wife, on the other hand, hadn’t given up hope and kept pressuring him to keep looking.
“I was dead set against it. You know it’s a bad subject, leave it alone, life is good and why create any problems?” said Ponic.
It wasn’t until this past Christmas when home DNA tests went on sale that his wife’s persistence finally paid off.
“I reluctantly spit into the tube. She made sure to watch me mail both of them,” said Ponic.
And after just a few weeks, the answers he didn’t know he wanted came in the most unexpected way. There was a familial match in the database for a second cousin who contacted him.
“I sort of brushed him off and said ‘you know I’m not really following up on it but the wife is’ and they became good friends on the computer. I’d say within a month, with a little research, that the two of them ended up finding my mom,” said Ponic.
Michael’s mother, Diana Lyn Doucet, had also tried to find him but was told by the Catholic Children’s Aid Society it wouldn’t happen and had given up hope.
She said she couldn’t believe it at first.
“I just cried for days. I couldn’t compose myself to write a letter and finally did and our emails crossed and it was just wonderful. It was like we’ve been together all this time,” said Doucet.
And finally, the missing piece in Michael’s life was put into place.
“It is like a closure its like now I know. The wondering was always there the wondering is gone now,” said Ponic.
Especially now with both his adoptive parents no longer here.
But daily phone calls and emails with his mom are no longer enough and the two can’t wait to finally meet.
“April 30th is arrival date I’m just waiting for the jet to land,” said Ponic.
After 50 years apart it will be the reunion of a lifetime.
Luisa Alvarez
