FLORIDA -- It's a heartwarming story that's now been shared more 42,000 times, with more than 6,000 reactions in just a few days.
Christina Housel originally posted the update to her reunion with her biological brother Monday and has received an overwhelming amount of outpouring of support and help.
Thirty years after the two were separated, Christina is shown posing with her recently discovered biological brother, known as Lyle James Berryman. Lyle says the two were originally separated when they were much younger after their parents decided to give Christina up for adoption.
The brother and sister would travel their own separate paths from there.
Lyle says after his sister was given up for adoption, he was left at someone's house in Florida. He would eventually be turned over to live with his maternal grandmother in Montana at the age of five. It would be six more years when his mother was dying of cancer that the two would speak again.
Christina says her story begins in Naples, where she was originally born and given up for adoption. Her adopted parents knew of her older brother and she would come to find out later that she was adopted.
Lyle's mother informed him that he wasn't an only child in 1996. On the mother's deathbed, he was told that he has a sister and a pair of twin sisters who were also given up for adoption. He was told the twins were born on April 10, 1994.
He wouldn't meet his father's side of the family until the age of 18 when he joined the military in 2003. While serving his time in Iraq, he spent some of his down time on trying to research his family members further.
His father unexpectedly got sick last January, falling into a coma. He died within the same week. Lyle asked his side of the family about his sister and where his parents lived in 1987, but no one seemed to remember.
It wasn't until a cousin matched with Christina on ancestry.com that the two were given a real breakthrough.
Christina says she tried AncestryDNA, where she matched with a few people. She tried to reach out with no response. She turned to Facebook to reach out further, which is how she first got in touch with Lyle.
Christina resides in Oak Harbor, Washington with her husband who currently serves in the Navy. Lyle lives in the Phoenix area of Arizona.
The two originally decided to meet in person on Father's Day, a day after Lyle's birthday.
He let his sister know that they weren't alone: Their twin sisters could be living on the west coast of Florida.
The newly reunited pair met up one more time a week ago, taking the now viral photo in hopes of finding their twin sisters. Both think the mystery pair could still be living in the Naples area of Fort Myers.
They have taken to Facebook to try to reach out to them or anyone else who lives in Florida to get the word out.
Do you live in Florida and happen to know twin sisters that fit the description, or would you like to help us spread the world? Let us know on our 10News Facebook page!
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