JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — Christmas came early for a Jacksonville-area father and a daughter he never knew he had: The two got to meet for the first time after 50 years.
A few months ago, two strangers signed up for 23andMe and matched with each other.
"I was a little scared, I'm going to send this lady a text and say "hey I think I'm your cousin," Mitzi Dickert said.
"I got a message from Mitzi on Facebook that said there was a grandfather match," Mimi Nguyen said.
The two then set out to figure how exactly they were related.
"It came back and it was a match to my uncle which would be her [Nguyen] grandfather," Dickert said.
Living in Tampa, Nguyen made the drive so her mother Myle could meet her father Tim for the first time.
"He never knew about her," Nguyen said.
"He was like what, you've got to be kidding and then he was really excited," Dickert said.
Tim, a Vietnam Veteran met Myle's mother while overseas.
"My mom said he came to America and he's gone and I would say I want to see him real bad," Myle said.
"Everybody was in tears, the reaction was amazing," Dickert said.
"I'm so happy that she got to actually meet her dad. It's been a long time for her, it's been five decades," Nguyen said.
Both families say if it weren't for them being curious about their family history, the meet-up may have never happened.
“You never know you might have another family member out there. We thought our family was small but it has actually grown to be quite big," Dickert said.