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Lifelong friends discover they are brothers after 60 years

Alan Robinson and Walter Macfarlane from Hawaii recently discovered they were brothers after knowing each other for more than 60 years.

Friends for 60 years find out they are brothers.
Friends for 60 years find out they are brothers. Source: KHON2

Two Hawaiian men who grew up as best friends have discovered they're actually brothers.

Alan Robinson and Walter Macfarlane have been friends for 60 years. Born in Hawaii 15 months apart, they met as youngsters and played football together at school in Honolulu.

Macfarlane never knew his father and Robinson was adopted. Separately, they sought answers about their ancestry.

Macfarlane turned to family history and DNA-matching websites after unsuccessful searches on the internet and social media, Honolulu news station KHON-TV says.

"So then we started digging into all the matches he started getting," said his daughter, Cindy Macfarlane-Flores.

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Friends (pictured middle) for 60 years find out they are brothers.
Friends (pictured middle) for 60 years find out they are brothers. Source: KHON2

A top match - someone with identical X chromosomes - had the username Robi737. Robison's nickname was Robi and he flew 737s for Aloha Airlines, Macfarlane-Flores said.

It turned out Robinson used the same website to find answers about his family. They later learned they have the same birth mother.

"It was a shock," Macfarlane said.

They revealed the relationship to friends and family during a party on Saturday night.

"It was an overwhelming experience, it's still overwhelming," Robinson said.

"I don't know how long it's going to take for me to get over this feeling."

They have plans to travel and enjoy retirement together.

"This is the best Christmas present I could ever imagine having," Robinson said.


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