A man has been left in awe after tracking down his biological parents.

The man was adopted as a baby and grew up in Eastern Canada. As he was happy with his family he never looked for his birth parents until he was given a DNA test one Christmas,

His 22-year-old son told a Reddit forum: "All he had from his birth parents was a letter which told him he was born out of love, but they could not support him when he was born.

"So when my sister decided to get him a genetic test for Christmas, it was to find out what ethnicity we all are and the thought of finding his birth parents didn't even cross our minds. Eventually, when we got his results, we were surprised to find the names of two people with perfect genetic matches to my dad."

My dad found his biological parents and it turns out they've been searching for him for 56 years
by u/EyesNPies in TrueOffMyChest

He reached out to each of his parents by email. The son added: "Almost immediately, his biological dad, who I'll call Jim (not his real name), responded! He said how excited and happy he was to have found my dad and how he had been looking for him for so long.

He continued: Soon thereafter, he also received a message from his biological mum, Debby (not her real name). By talking to them both, my dad learned the story of his birth."

The man's biological grandfather moved from Australia to Canada during the 1960s, he learned. It was there that a 17-year-old Debby met Jim.

"They were high school sweethearts and were thinking of marriage after they graduated, but then Debby got pregnant," the poster wrote. "Her dad was furious and sent her back to Canada to give birth and arranged a private adoption. Once she gave birth, she was able to let Jim know that she was being sent back to Australia. They never saw each other again for the next forty years."

Both Debby and Jim married other people, and while Jim and his wife had no children of their own, Debby went on to have three daughters. "They [Debby and Jim] saw each other for the first time around 12 years ago, as they reconnected on Facebook and Debby happened to be taking a trip to the West Coast of America."

The man revealed that both Debby and Jim had wanted to keep their baby and had spent years searching for him. However, the province where their child was raised "apparently is one of the hardest places in the world to find adoption information," they wrote.

Eventually, the parents gave up on their search – until genetic tests became popular. "He [Jim] asked Debby to take every single one, and he did the same, about five years ago, hoping that one day my dad would take one. When he received my dad's message, he immediately wrote to Debby: 'I found him.'".

Now, Jim and his wife maintain regular contact with his biological son and his family, who are the couple's only blood relatives. The poster and his father are even planning a visit to Jim, although plans with Debby are still pending as she resides in Australia. They expressed their excitement at discovering they have three new aunts and five younger cousins.