Tommy Carmichael grew up believing that his father had abandoned him and that he was a “secret” or a “mistake.”
But that couldn’t have been farther than the truth.
Pershawn Mattison grew up knowing that she had a half-brother, but despite her best efforts, hadn’t been able to track him down.
Finally, after more than five decades, Mattison was able to reunite with her brother Carmichael and bring the truth to light— that her father loved her brother very much and was murdered before they could build a relationship.
“We knew about you. We couldn’t find you, but you were never, ever, ever, ever a mistake or a secret. And he loved you,” Mattison told her brother when then met after COVID kept them apart for two years after they made contact.
Mattison, who lives in Atlanta, spent 30 years searching for her brother and had almost given up.
“I was trying everything to find him and no leads, no luck, nothing,” she told Alive 11. “I had just about given up hope and was accepting the fact that I would never find him.
”Finally, Mattison made an account on Ancestry.com and got a hit in 2019 for a man named Tommy Carmichael who had a 100% DNA match.
Carmichael was totally unaware that he had a sister and never knew his dad.
The two of them began making plans to meet in May 2020. Then the pandemic hit. Then another COVID surge put a damper on their plans to meet in 2021.“Persistence, hope, and faith is what got us here today and I’m so excited,” Mattison said.
She sobbed loudly praising Jesus as she held her brother tight when they first met. Carmichael’s reaction was less physically emotional but equally as powerful.
