Joy Factor: Best Friends Discover They Are in Fact Brothers

Best Friends

Joy Factor is a Joytv.ca feature that celebrates moments that will bring a smile to your face! Be it an uplifting news item, a funny viral video, or an instance where good emerges out of bad situation, Joy Factor strives to shine a light on the best this world has to offer. 

As much as we appreciate the ability to have a close-knit family, it’s also a terrific blessing to find a best friend to share life’s ups and downs with. For Alan Robinson and Walter Macfarlane, they have found both of these elements in one another.

In Oahu, Hawaii, Robinson and Macfarlane have been best friends for 60 years. Born just 15 months apart, the duo met in the sixth grade and bonded over shared interests like football and cribbage, to name a few.

Additionally, both Robinson and Macfarlane grew up in non-traditional family arrangements. Robinson was adopted, while Macfarlane never knew his father.

In an attempt to figure out who his father was, Macfarlane and his family scoured several online resources – including DNA-matching websites – to get a better idea of what his family tree looked like.

One strong match found by Macfarlane had the username of robi737. Macfarlane and robi737 had numerous DNA matches, including identical X chromosomes.

Surprisingly for Macfarlane, robi737 turned out to be his good friend Robinson, who was also researching his ancestry. After a few conversations, the best friends realized that they shared the same biological mother.

“It was a shock,” Macfarlane said in an interview with KHON2.

“Yea it was shock, definitely,” added Robinson. “Then we thought about it and compared forearms.

“Yea hairy arms, that did it!” playfully offered Macfarlane.

Robinson admitted to this discovery being “an overwhelming experience,” before noting that he doesn’t know how long it’ll take for him “to get over this feeling.”

Nevertheless, Robinson and Macfarlane will begin this new chapter in their lives by travelling and enjoying retirement together.

-Adam Grant

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