A St. Louis man made a shocking discovery when he identified his biological father.
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Michael Goessling was placed for adoption as an infant after his biological parents birthed him when they were teenagers. Paul and Kay Goessling adopted him and raised him in St. Louis.
"Always knew I was adopted," Goessling said. "Had a wonderful childhood. I could not pick two finer folks to raise me."
Despite his pleasant upbringing, Goessling always wondered who his biological parents were.
As fate would have it, a half-brother he was unaware of contacted him after taking a 23andMe DNA test.
"Within 36 hours, he got an email notifying him: Michael Goessling, half-brother, St. Louis," Goessling recalled. "And that's how this all began."
Goessling later met his mother at age 58, who then connected him with his father via phone call. During the discussion, Goessling's father informed him that he was a musician planning to tour through St. Louis.
Goessling would've never guessed he was kin to a five-time Grammy winner.
"And I said, 'Are you Michael McDonald?'" Goessling said. "And he said, 'Yeah, I'm afraid so.'"
McDonald, an American singer-songwriter and lead vocalist for the Doobie Brothers, is a Rock and Roll Hall of Fame member.
Grammy Winner Reunites With Biological Son
McDonald and Goessling's biological mother remained friends over the years. Over a FaceTime call, McDonald described the gravity of not knowing what happened to his son.
"We always talked about him. And it always came down to our greatest fear was, how did life treat him?" McDonald said. "I always carried that guilt with me. But just to know that he was okay and that he had a good life, and a life certainly that I wouldn't have been able to afford him at that time, was a great reward. The real rock stars in this story are his adoptive parents."
When the two met, McDonald became emotional.
"When he first saw me, he put his arms out, gave me a big old bear hug and told me he loved me, and I told him the same," Goessling said.
