Overview
- A 23andMe half‑sibling match alerted a member of Michael McDonald’s family to Michael Goessling in St. Louis and set the search in motion.
- Goessling met his birth mother in person for the first time on his 58th birthday and then spoke by phone with McDonald before arranging an in‑person meeting.
- When McDonald toured through St. Louis he and Goessling met face to face, embraced and exchanged words of love in an emotional first encounter.
- McDonald, who has long stayed in contact with Goessling’s birth mother, said he felt relief to learn Goessling had a happy life and called the adoptive parents “the real rock stars,” and he also learned he is a grandfather to Goessling’s two children.
- The story follows a broader pattern of consumer DNA testing reuniting adoptees and biological relatives and echoes details McDonald described in his 2024 memoir about the teen pregnancy that led to Goessling’s adoption.