"I found my birth father and it may save my life one day!"

Dave Kersting was overjoyed when his state opened his adoption records and he finally got to meet his birth father. They have much in common, including a trait that, now that he knows, may save Dave's life!

- Bill Holton

Chesterfield, Missouri, veterinarian Dave Kersting was watching the local news when the anchorwoman reported, "Missouri state officials have decided to release original birth certificates for children adopted during the early 1960s."

After all these years! Dave could hardly believe the news, and he told his wife, Dot, "I'm going to put in my application right away."

Searching for answers

Dave had always known he was adopted. "Not every mom is lucky enough to get to choose her baby," his adoptive mom had told him. He had two loving brothers and a dad who was his biggest cheerleader.

Sadly, Dave's adoptive dad died when Dave was 16. "I'll make you proud," Dave vowed a few years later, when began inarian school. And at the end of his first year, he married his high school sweetheart, Dot.

The couple hoped to start a family, but it wasn't to be.

"Maybe we should adopt," Dot proposed, and Dave agreed, eager to pass along the love he had been given from his own forever family.

Loved and happy, Dave had never felt the need to learn about his birth parents. But in 1999, as he and Dot navigated their daughter Katie's open adoption, he found himself wondering about his own family origins and his medical history.