After donating her eggs 25 years prior, an Indianapolis woman discovered her biological son through DNA testing. Kristin Schoonveld, who was adopted in 1969, pursued DNA testing in adulthood to locate her biological parents. She submitted her DNA to 23andMe in 2019, and was surprised to find a match that indicated she had a son. Schoonveld, 52, initially thought it was a mistake because she had never been pregnant, but upon examining the profile, she saw a striking resemblance between herself and the young man.

Kristin Schoonveld and Parker Erickson hugging | h/t: Indy Star

She kept reading and discovered that her “son” was conceived via in vitro fertilization. And just like her, he was looking for his biological family.

Schoonveld soon remembered something she did years ago—she anonymously donated her eggs to a couple struggling to conceive. She was inspired to do so after reading an article about egg donation in 1994.

Schoonveld, intrigued, applied to be a donor, and a couple soon selected her. After months of hormone injections, she traveled to California for the egg retrieval.

Kristin Schoonveld with a young Nick more than 20 years ago | h/t: Indy Star

In the succeeding years, Schoonveld said she “occasionally marveled” at the idea that she might have a biological child out there, but she rarely thought about it.

Fast forward to June 2012, Schoonveld attended the Special Olympics and met a young man with Down syndrome named Nick, whom she had known decades ago when she was still in college.

Back then, Schoonveld took a semester off to work in a second-grade special education classroom where Nick was a nine-year-old student.

The duo was “drawn to each other from the start,” and Schoonveld even nannied for him for the summer. Unfortunately, they eventually lost touch. So when they met again at the Special Olympics, it became the perfect opportunity for them to reconnect.

Kristin Schoonveld and Nick Schoonveld | h/t: Indy Star

When Nick’s mom, Grace, was diagnosed with non-smoker’s lung cancer, they grew even closer. Schoonveld would often visit and continued to do so after Grace passed away at 60 in January 2015.

Schoonveld also formed a bond with Nick’s father, Brian, and they soon fell in love. The couple tied the knot in January 2018, and she legally adopted Nick four months later.

The adoption process was completed in the same courthouse where Schoonveld had been adopted as a baby, which spurred her interest in learning more about her biological family.

That’s how she ended up on 23andMe in late 2019, looking for her real father. At the time, she had already found her biological mother on MyHeritage.

Schoonveld instead found her son through DNA testing, Parker Erickson, 26, who was conceived via in vitro fertilization through a donor’s egg. When she read that bit of info, she remembered her egg donation all those years ago.

Kristin Schoonveld and her son Parker Erickson | h/t: Indy Star

Erickson had gone on the same site not just to find his biological mother but also to see if he had any siblings he didn’t know about.

“There was always sort of that question up in the air of like, “Could there be someone else?” he said. “Both my parents said no. But as hopeful as [my girlfriend] Kaylee and I were, as hopeful as I was, there might have been someone.”

Schoonveld and Erickson began talking, and in November 2019, Schoonveld and Nick traveled to Indiana to meet Erickson and his parents.

She described their meeting as “instant love,” saying: “It’s as if I’ve known him his whole life.”

As it turns out, the feeling was mutual.

“It was like hanging out with people that I already knew,” Erickson said. “It was instantly just easy to love each other.”

Kristin Schoonveld, Parker Erickson, and Nick Schoonveld | h/t: Indy Star

Erickson had always desired to have a brother, and he found just that in Nick when they met.

Since then, the mother and son have stayed in touch, with Erickson even following his mother's lead by applying to volunteer at the Special Olympics in their new home of Boulder, Colorado.

Schoonveld expressed that they have formed a bond that will last a lifetime.

With their newfound connection, their lives have expanded with more joy and wonder.

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