What happens when a chance phone call and a Facebook search lead to discovering hidden family secrets?

A Twist-Filled Tale of Finding My Brothers

This episode dives into the emotional rollercoaster of uncovering long-lost siblings and reconnecting with a fragmented past, something many of us long for or have experienced in our own lives.

Main Benefits:

• Understand the process and emotional impact of discovering and reconnecting with birth family members.
• Learn how modern tools like DNA testing and social media can help solve lifelong family mysteries.
• Gain insight into navigating complex family dynamics and emotions when uncovering hidden truths.

Listen to this heartfelt episode where Corey, Kendall, and Chris share their incredible journey of finding long-lost family members and the impact it had on their lives.

1

Hello and a heartfelt welcome to all our

listeners as we embark on season four of

2

the Family Twist podcast.

3

I'm Kendall Austin Stulce and my life's

story is a tapestry of unexpected turns

4

from being adopted as an infant to losing

my adopted parents by the time I was 17.

5

And then in a twist of fate, finding my

birth family through the magic of DNA

6

testing in 2017.

7

And I'm Corey Stulce, Kendall's partner on

this life adventure.

8

When we uncovered his paternal birth

family's roots on the East Coast, I knew

9

our next chapter was calling us there to

mend the missing pieces of Kendall's heart

10

with the love of newfound relatives.

11

Our podcast began as a single thread, a

narrative of my own, but it is woven into

12

a vibrant quilt of stories celebrating the

complexities of DNA surprises, adoption,

13

donor conception, NPEs, not the parent

expected.

14

Surrogacy and the myriad ways families

come together.

15

We've been welcomed into an incredible

community with each guest sharing their

16

own family twist.

17

And through it all, we found strength in

each other.

18

Thank you for letting us share our passion

and these remarkable stories with you.

19

The bonds we formed with you, our

listeners, and the stories you share have

20

only deepened our commitment to this

journey.

21

Family Twist isn't just a podcast, it's a

celebration of the unexpected ties that

22

bind us all.

23

Thank you for joining us on this fantastic

ride.

24

Welcome back to season four of the Family

Twist podcast.

25

For those of you who have been listening

for a while, you might've forgotten the

26

beginning of my story, but my father,

Scott, got my mother pregnant when they

27

were both teenagers, and I was given away

for adoption.

28

And then he quickly got a second girl

pregnant.

29

And I say girl because she was not an

adult yet.

30

And...

31

And he was not either.

32

And that baby was given up for adoption.

33

And then he got a third girl pregnant,

married her and raised my brother, Chris,

34

that you've heard from before and you're

going to hear from in this episode.

35

And my sister, Monica.

36

Chris starts off the episode with a

reminder of what it was like to meet me

37

six years ago.

38

And then how he prompted our dad to help

us figure out who my birth mother was and

39

where she was and that sort of thing.

40

We start the episode with that.

41

And then Corey talks to Chris about, and I

do too, talk to Chris about finding our

42

brother, Todd.

43

The office where I worked had six desks

and often four people were sitting in

44

there with me at the same moment.

45

But it was just like the perfect time.

46

There was nobody there.

47

I feel like I, you and I had a chance to

talk without feeling like other people are

48

listening.

49

And it was just, it was of course amazing.

50

And you told me so much in the first

minute of that call that I didn't know.

51

Yeah.

52

It must've been amazing.

53

Weight coming off your shoulders and with

every word I was giving you, it had to

54

have been like,

55

In your mind, you must've had a million

questions and I'm giving you bits and

56

pieces that are just checking boxes for

you.

57

It's like I said, it's such a different,

I'm on the opposite end of it.

58

And I'm not, none of that.

59

My questions are, wow, does he look like

dad?

60

Does he sound like dad?

61

Does he look, is he as tall as dad?

62

Is he look like me?

63

Like there, my questions were more simple.

64

What was his life like?

65

But I didn't, I wasn't in the dark.

66

I was raised.

67

I.

68

by him, I had all of those things already

answered.

69

Well, when you and I got off the phone,

still nobody had come up into the office

70

where I was and so nobody disturbed me,

but that office had a rooftop, we had a

71

access to a rooftop deck and nobody was

out there.

72

And I remember opening the door right by

my desk, going out onto the rooftop deck

73

and sobbed for just minutes.

74

I just.

75

I was overwhelmed.

76

Oh sure.

77

Just sure overwhelmed.

78

And I remember going downstairs in the

office saying, and people looked at me

79

like I had just seen a ghost or something

like that, like I looked physically

80

affected and I remember Jamie, one of my

colleagues who was just fantastic, she

81

said, what's wrong Kendall?

82

And I was like, nothing, actually

nothing's wrong.

83

This is like the most wonderful moment.

84

And I just started spewing verbally

spewing.

85

telling everybody who was in there all

staring at me like in disbelief and they

86

all start crying to hear somebody say that

you're my brother and you're telling me

87

the name of my mother.

88

It felt very surreal.

89

Right.

90

I actually thought I was having an outer

body.

91

I would think you must have been like

almost ready to pass out.

92

I would have a hard time breathing

normally.

93

And I would, I would be probably in a

position where I need to like literally

94

focus on my breathing or I'm going to lose

it.

95

Yeah.

96

You know, that, that is, that is amazing.

97

Yeah.

98

I remember you being really polite about,

I know they're not, you're not related to

99

them, but you think there's any way that

you could help me find who they were.

100

I think I can.

101

So I called dad right away and said, I

want more details.

102

What do you mean?

103

No, no, no.

104

It was probably half drunk.

105

I said, she has siblings.

106

Do you know anything about her parents'

names?

107

Tell me what you know about her father,

that type of stuff.

108

And then he'd say, Oh, yeah.

109

And the sister.

110

What's her real name, dad?

111

Come on.

112

He struggled for a little while and he

came up with, he goes, dad was not an air

113

force guy, Navy guy.

114

Like I was like, I didn't realize any

other branch was on a what is air for.

115

I don't, I'm just dumb to that.

116

I didn't know.

117

So I said, Oh, I said, that's interesting.

118

So I, I typed in her name, your mom's

name, her sister's name, Navy obituary,

119

Arkansas.

120

I think that's what I put in is all my and

first hit you knew it was, it was a, it

121

was a perfect hit when you read the

obituary and it referenced her name being.

122

Yeah, exactly.

123

So I was like, Oh my God, I just found out

who they are, where they are.

124

He has, he has more siblings.

125

We're going to talk about how you found

out that you had brothers.

126

I've referenced before on the podcast

about there were bad moments in my life

127

where

128

I got myself into some trouble with dad.

129

Dad would hit me or whatever.

130

I'd get upset and whimper upstairs and

he'd always have some sort of sorrow or

131

will to apologize and come up and then lay

down and say, I'm sorry.

132

And I shouldn't have done that and all

that type of stuff.

133

And then for at least two moments where he

said, don't ever forget, you're my number

134

one son.

135

Well, it's just me and Monica.

136

That makes no sense.

137

And I would say I was probably 11 or 12 is

my guess.

138

Well, you do have another brother.

139

And that just changed everything in my

head.

140

I'm like, Oh my God, I have an older

brother.

141

He told me the whole story about his

girlfriend and how young he was.

142

And that they had a son.

143

And the only thing that he knew was that

he was named after him.

144

Just this thing in the back of your mind

after that, you don't really put a lot of

145

thought into it as a kid.

146

Every once in a while, if something would

ever come up about adoption, you'd think

147

about it or, but the way he described it,

it was in Arkansas.

148

There's no way back then there was no

worldwide web.

149

There was no way to find anything.

150

So I just gave up pretty early on in my

life that I would never find to have a

151

brother.

152

So what could you do?

153

Right.

154

So I really didn't put a ton of thought

into it for my early years.

155

And then as you get older and then the

internet became a thing, you start looking

156

into it and getting more deeply involved

and trying to figure stuff out about, you

157

know, quote unquote, Scott, which is

Kendall.

158

But before that happened, I learned that I

had a second brother.

159

How'd that come out?

160

It happened after college because my

girlfriend and I had broken up and I

161

needed a place to live.

162

So I moved back in with my parents for

about two months.

163

And during that two month stint.

164

There was a phone call.

165

And as always, my dad never touched the

phone.

166

The phone was never for him.

167

It was always for my mother.

168

And my mother picks up the phone.

169

She's like, Scott, the phone's for you.

170

He goes, what?

171

That was always like, that was never a

thing.

172

Who's calling me?

173

Why would someone call me?

174

You know, she's like, no, it's Kathy from

high school.

175

He's like, what?

176

She wants to talk to you.

177

He was on the phone with her probably 20

minutes, 25 minutes.

178

which was a longer conversation.

179

She's not on the phone with anybody ever.

180

I'd never heard him on the phone ever.

181

And he gets off the phone.

182

He's white as a ghost.

183

And he says, whoa, apparently I have

another son.

184

It's like this really pathetic admittance

that- Guess what I did.

185

Had you ever heard of her before?

186

No, never.

187

Heard of her- Because you and your mom,

Anna, they knew each other.

188

Oh yeah, they were friends.

189

They were friends.

190

My mom was friends with her and they were

pregnant at the same time.

191

Yeah, I was they went to, um, unwed

mothers, whatever it was called, unwed

192

mothers program in the town that they were

in.

193

They were both in there.

194

There's some sort of support thing that

both of them were in.

195

At the same time, six months apart.

196

They were probably only simultaneously

pregnant for about five or six weeks.

197

Because I was premature.

198

So it was Kendall.

199

The one thing that after it all came out.

200

My mother would say your dad always denied

said there's no way Because from my

201

understanding is that they will wait

together once at least to that point where

202

there was risk That's all it takes good.

203

Whatever the truth is he wholeheartedly

never believed that was just his game and

204

According to her there was nobody else

that equipped them.

205

She's very confident Did she say to Scott

why she waited so long to bring this up?

206

This is my understanding of it.

207

I think she had a long held grudge.

208

His stance at that age back then too, was

that this is not my kid.

209

So she might have confronted him before

and he said no way, not mine.

210

Right.

211

Disagreed, fought it, whatever.

212

He was probably already in love with my

mother, probably already pregnant with me

213

and definitely did not want anything else.

214

Get in the way is my guess.

215

Dad loved to brag about his time, you

know.

216

as a teenager and how many girls he had.

217

He was living in the woods and it was

basically a party every weekend.

218

He would brag about that stuff even when I

was 13, 14, 15.

219

Oh, wow.

220

Okay.

221

You know, made me think that was normal,

like a normal way to try to be.

222

He was clearly.

223

Put into a position where he could not

fight that anymore.

224

But even though that was the case, he

still had a doubt because the conversation

225

was she said, your son is coming up.

226

from where he's been living his entire

life, where his adoptive parents live, and

227

he's coming up to meet me.

228

And I think he had, oddly enough, had come

to Massachusetts his entire life.

229

Every summer, I think, he'd spent time up

here.

230

So all along, he was always within

probably 100 miles.

231

I never knew it.

232

I think he was combining his trip to see

some family, some of his adopted family up

233

here, and agreed to meet his.

234

his birth mother for the very first time.

235

Now how did she connect with him?

236

Well I don't know anything for certain,

but I know that supposedly it was a sealed

237

adoption and she was not supposed to have

any knowledge of where he ended up going

238

or any of that stuff.

239

My understanding is probably, I don't know

if I should say this or not, that she made

240

some claims about her health and that she

really needed to pass on the potential her

241

or offspring might experience.

242

So they agreed to unseal it for that

purpose.

243

Really interesting because that is like

one of the main things that we're fighting

244

for right now with closed adoptions is

that these kids need to know.

245

They need to know if there's health risks.

246

You give up a child and you sign away your

rights.

247

And deep down when you were a teenager,

you're probably not really prepared to

248

live with that.

249

Right.

250

At that time, you don't realize what

you're preparing to live with.

251

Right.

252

Yeah.

253

So I think she had serious regrets.

254

Yeah.

255

And desperate.

256

But that really wanted to see this child.

257

I look, I have to admit, I would have done

that or more.

258

Yeah.

259

I would want to know my child.

260

Yeah.

261

Right.

262

You do whatever you have to do to find

them.

263

Yeah.

264

That's who I am.

265

But oh, completely.

266

Yeah.

267

Well, the.

268

Info we received was that he was going to

be coming up from North Carolina to

269

Massachusetts, to the Cape, where, you

know, where he was conceived, took visit

270

family and to meet his birth mother on the

Cape.

271

Our uncle, Sean, still lived on the Cape

and it was about 15 miles away from where

272

we lived in New Hampshire.

273

So dad being a, not much for any sort of

confrontation with something he might find

274

uncomfortable like that.

275

And B.

276

He hates traveling.

277

He doesn't like driving long distances.

278

He gets high anxiety.

279

I knew that his response was, I don't want

to go.

280

He was kind of trying to find a way out of

it.

281

So what he did was he asked Sean if he

could meet this kid and determine if he

282

quite possibly looks like him, where he

could possibly be his kid.

283

If he looked like me, he would say, he's

not your kid.

284

He doesn't look like you, Scott.

285

I think he was literally painting a house

and Kathy and Todd, our brother, pulled up

286

to his job site to meet Sean.

287

And Sean had not necessarily kept in touch

with Kathy, but had seen her around town

288

and knew newer, they always had been, they

knew each other in high school and all

289

that stuff's later on called and said,

Scott, he's yours 100%.

290

He looks like you blonde hair, blue eyes,

walks like you even almost.

291

Talks like you, has no ass like you.

292

That's your boy.

293

Immediately he's just you, but bigger.

294

What was Scott's reaction?

295

I think he felt even more worried.

296

I think he was like, oh God, this whole

time I never thought it.

297

I just never believed it.

298

I think deep down he really didn't.

299

I think he thought that Cathy was just not

telling the truth.

300

It was really a big surprise for him and I

think he had to come to grips with it and

301

he did.

302

I think by the evening.

303

He agreed that we needed to go down to the

Cape that next morning.

304

So that was the plan.

305

We were gonna go down.

306

And I think all four of us were going,

Monica, me, mom, dad.

307

I believe we even packed some stuff into

the car.

308

We were getting ready to go and the phone

rang and it was Kathy.

309

And she said, Todd does not wanna meet

you.

310

She was speaking on his behalf.

311

And I think my father was relieved.

312

I was bummed.

313

I wanted to meet my brother.

314

Here I am.

315

I never thought I'd ever meet you.

316

I just found out I have another brother.

317

I gotta meet this guy, you know?

318

So that got shot down and then that was

it.

319

If he doesn't wanna meet us, then that's

totally, I'm gonna respect that or I'll

320

never push.

321

That was my belief from that point was

I'll just never push and that was it.

322

I gave up on that altogether, you know,

thought about him.

323

Wondered how your lives were, what you

guys had for similarities, all that stuff.

324

And always had you guys both in the back

of my mind.

325

Occasionally would do internet searches

trying to find adoption Databases and see

326

if I could find any information about

either of you really not knowing much like

327

other than Your name given and I now knew

Todd's name But still really didn't know

328

what to look up But I never really looked

for Todd because I thought his wish was to

329

not be found Yeah in 2015 Fast forward,

what's that 20 years almost 19 years later

330

I got invited by friends and dad got

invited to go to Loudon, New Hampshire for

331

NASCAR, which for me was just about

tailgating.

332

I had zero interest in the race car part

of it.

333

All right, I'm going to be with friends

and family.

334

This sounds like a plan.

335

Let's do it.

336

And I wanted the experience.

337

You see what it was like.

338

And we had a great, great day.

339

It was just a hot, fun, drinking, fun,

beer.

340

There are a few beers.

341

few beers?

342

Just a few every couple of minutes.

343

We had the ride home from Loudon.

344

I dropped him off back at his place and on

route we're having some good

345

heart-to-hearts and stuff and I was

talking about his life and talking about

346

how I wish he would slow down his drinking

and you know what were his regrets in life

347

and I said do you ever think about your

sons your other two sons?

348

He says I do.

349

I think about them from time to time.

350

Of course I do.

351

I just

352

wonder if they hate me.

353

And he was always worried about that.

354

He was always scared that the two of you

would come back and just bludgeon him.

355

Like he just had that deep rooted fear.

356

You guys wanted to just kill him.

357

I said, the first one's name is Scott.

358

And we talked about you for awhile.

359

And I said, the second one is, is Todd.

360

I goes, I think that's what it was.

361

Right.

362

I go, yeah.

363

And I got home at like midnight and after

dropping him off and I got onto Facebook.

364

And started searching that name and typing

in North Carolina with the name.

365

And it came up with like 20 hits.

366

I clicked on the first one and his photos

were not protected.

367

And I started skipping through his photos

and I go, Oh my God.

368

He's a Clark.

369

I mean, there's a couple of pictures that

he looks just like dad.

370

When dad was younger.

371

There's pictures of Todd.

372

When he, when he's like.

373

in his 30s and he looks like dad in his

30s.

374

Oh, he's my, this guy right here, I'm

looking at my brother right now.

375

This is just surreal.

376

Literally, I had no doubts.

377

What were you feeling like?

378

I mean, what were your emotions?

379

I think Karen was asleep, so there was

nobody to talk to about it.

380

At that exact moment, I'm like, holy crap,

holy crap, this is my brother for sure.

381

And I sent him a message on Messenger and

I said, my name is Chris Clark, my dad is

382

Scott Clark.

383

Does that mean anything to you?

384

I thought maybe I'll get a note back in

the next week or two.

385

And I think it was like less than 15

minutes later.

386

He said, that would make you my brother.

387

This was after midnight.

388

That was when we connected and we, I think

we, I think we talked that night.

389

If I remember correctly, we talked that

night.

390

Wow.

391

Yeah.

392

For quite a while.

393

I think, you know, him learning that and,

you know, I think obviously that must have

394

been pretty exciting for him.

395

What was immediately relating to me was

that it wasn't true that he did not want

396

to know us.

397

He did and Kathy had made the whole thing

up.

398

Mm-hmm.

399

What did she tell him?

400

I think she must have told him they didn't

want to come down and talk to him.

401

Was he like torn about this or was he just

like feeling weird about it?

402

About me reaching out?

403

Just in general because after this whole

weird thing she obviously told him you

404

guys were going to meet and at the last

minute she called it off.

405

Yeah, which I'm sure she could not have

admitted to him.

406

There's no way, because here she is trying

to create a relationship with him.

407

And then if he was okay with meeting us,

then there's no way he could have.

408

Been okay with her saying, no, I called

this off.

409

Why would he, why would he be okay with

that?

410

Right?

411

I would not have been.

412

She's the villain in this story for sure.

413

She's the twisted of the twist.

414

I don't want to say anything bad, but no,

but we're not going to invite her on.

415

So we talked.

416

And boy, he gave me a full rundown of his

life.

417

And the thing I, you know, hopefully

someday he'll come on and tell you about

418

it.

419

I don't think it's my place to say his

story, but there were some things that,

420

you know, growing up that he was yearning

for knowing who his real parents were.

421

And when I told him what it was really

like to be raised by his father, I don't

422

think he felt so bad about his upbringing.

423

We ended up meeting.

424

Within maybe six or eight months after

that, he had come up for a wedding for his

425

extended families that they're all in

Massachusetts or in New England.

426

In the middle of the reception, he skipped

out to hang out with us for about two

427

hours.

428

We went to a restaurant, maybe an eighth

of a mile from the reception hall.

429

And that was you, Scott.

430

And Monica.

431

Was Scott asking him questions?

432

Not much.

433

I think he was just in awe of all of it.

434

And, you know, he'd say stuff like, wow,

you know, that simple.

435

I'm just really kind of happy.

436

You don't want to kill me.

437

What was the look on his face when he saw

his son that he'd never met before?

438

He said, you're definitely a Clark.

439

And I said more than me.

440

He goes, yeah, he is more than you.

441

That's amazing how much time looks.

442

What was it like for you laying your eyes

on Todd for the first time?

443

Having Facebook gives you a really good

understanding who you're gonna meet So

444

nothing was a major surprise other than

like just the how big he is.

445

Yeah.

446

Oh my god.

447

He's Every bit of six line backs three.

448

Yeah He is the size I had hoped to be we

had a great two hours with him He and I

449

probably have one really good conversation

a year, you know I'd probably connect

450

another one to two times a year.

451

Other than that, we don't talk a ton

452

But it's not because we don't like each

other.

453

It's just cause he's a pretty to himself

type of guy.

454

Kind of like Scott.

455

Yep.

456

I give him a heads up on dads.

457

Let's call him his traits.

458

And he is like, oh, well, that's good to

know.

459

Like he's appreciative to know that

there's probably a reason behind some of

460

the things he's experiencing.

461

I hope we can get together again.

462

I know at some point.

463

when we're empty nesters, we'll be making

a trek down to the Carolinas.

464

I think the three brothers need to get

together.

465

Absolutely.

466

Yeah.

467

I would love that.

468

That would be great.

469

Now Kendall, Kendall's met Todd.

470

What was your gut reaction when you laid

eyes on him for the first time?

471

Well, I mean, I already felt, felt like a

Clark, but Todd made me feel that much

472

more.

473

Did you see a lot of your dad in him?

474

Absolutely.

475

Like Todd was very jovial.

476

I found that about our dad as well.

477

Yeah.

478

It was wonderful.

479

Big booming voice.

480

Oh my gosh.

481

You know, the room, like whether he's

trying to or not, it's just, it's just a

482

different type of depth and volume to it.

483

Right.

484

Both of them have that.

485

And I'm not that person.

486

Well, you know what your voice, you have a

deeper voice.

487

It's prominent.

488

Right.

489

Yeah.

490

I think your vocal cords are coming.

491

Oh, the clocks for sure.

492

Everybody loves your voice on the podcast.

493

They said you have a voice for radio.

494

That's where I started out.