Millions of people have been using at-home DNA kits like Ancestry or 23andMe to have their DNA analyzed. Doing this often leads to people finding connections to family members that they never knew they had, or to family members who they had always wanted to meet.

When Jeff Snyder of Tampa, Florida submitted his DNA to Ancestry a few years ago, he had very low expectations and was not expecting to find any connections. Two years went by and Jeff did not hear anything from Ancestry, and he did not think much of it. Finally, last October, Jeff received an email in the middle of the night from a woman named Judy Newkirk, who turned out to be his biological mother!

Judy gave birth to Jeff in 1957 and held him for six hours before she put him up for adoption. They two did not see each other for the next 51 years until the DNA website led to them finding each other.

The video below opens with Jeff nervously waiting at the airport for Judy before meeting her for the first time.

“It’s almost like a first date,” he said. “You get the butterflies. You get the trepidation. You don’t really know what’s going to happen or how things are going to work.”

It took over five decades, but Judy finally got to hold her son again! Video of their reunion has quickly gone viral, touching the hearts of people all over the world. We’re so glad that this mother and son have finally found each other!