Virginia man stolen from mom at birth travels the world to hug her for first time: ‘the oceans I’ve cried’

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A 42-year-old Virginia man hugged his biological mother for the very first time this month after they were separated at birth and had not seen each other since.

"Hola, Mama," Jimmy Lippert Thyden told Maria Angelica Gonzalez in Spanish, when the two met for the very first time at her home in Valdivia, Chile, in August. "I love you very much," he said as they embraced, both teary-eyed and emotional.

Forty-two years ago, hospital workers took Maria Angelica Gonzalez’ son from her arms immediately after his birth, and she was later told that he had died. Now, they got to meet face-to-face.

"Mijo (son), you have no idea the oceans I’ve cried for you, how many nights I’ve laid awake praying that God let me live long enough to learn what happened to you," Thyden recalls his birth mother’s saying during their remarkable reunion.

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In this image provided by Constanza Del Rio/Nos Buscamos, Jimmy Thyden, right, sits with Maria Angelica Gonzalez, his Chilean birth mother, as they meet for the first time in Valdivia, Chile, on Aug. 17, 2023. (Constanza Del Rio/Nos Buscamos via AP)

The heartwarming moment came after a monthslong, international search for his biological family, and the 42-year-old explained to The Associated Press how he approached their first meeting.

"It knocked the wind out of me. ... I was suffocated by the gravity of this moment," he said during an interview from Ashburn, Virginia, where he works as a criminal defense attorney. "How do you hug someone in a way that makes up for 42 years of hugs?"

In this image provided by Constanza Del Rio/Nos Buscamos, Jimmy Thyden, right, hugs Maria Angelica Gonzalez, his Chilean birth mother, as they meet for the first time in Valdivia, Chile, on Thursday, Aug. 17, 2023. (Constanza Del Rio/Nos Buscamos via AP)

The reunion included more than just Thyden, as he traveled to Chile with his wife, Johannah, and their two daughters, Ebba Joy, 8, and Betty Grace, 5, to meet his newly discovered family.

For the first time, Gonzalez got to meet her displaced son, a new daughter-in-law and two new granddaughters. Thyden, for the first time, also got to meet his biological bothers and sister. Everyone was exuberant.

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When Thyden and his family stepped into his mother’s home, they were greeted with 42 colorful balloons, each one signifying a year of lost time with his Chilean family.

"There is an empowerment in popping those balloons, empowerment in being there with your family to take inventory of all that was lost," he said. "The paperwork I have for my adoption tells me I have no living relatives. And I learned in the last few months that I have a mama and I have four brothers and a sister."

In this image provided by Constanza Del Rio/Nos Buscamos, Jimmy Thyden, left, holds hands with Maria Angelica Gonzalez, his Chilean birth mother, as they meet in Valdivia, Chile, on Thursday, Aug. 17, 2023, for the first time. (Constanza Del Rio/Nos Buscamos via AP)

Thyden’s journey to find his mother and his birth family began in April when he stumbled upon a news story about Chilean-born adoptees who had been reunited with their birth relatives.

He then decided to take a DNA test from the genealogy platform MyHeritage, which confirmed that he was 100% Chilean. The test also matched him to a first cousin who also uses the platform.

Thyden sent the cousin his adoption papers, which included an address for his birth mother and a very common name in Chile: Maria Angelica Gonzalez.

The cousin had a Maria Angelica Gonzalez on their mother’s side and helped connect him with the woman who was ultimately identified as his mother.

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Gonzalez, however, would not take his phone calls as adoption stories like this are sometimes exploited for financial gain.

That is, until he texted her a photo of his wife and daughters.

"Then just the dam broke," said Thyden, who sent more photos of the American family who adopted him, his time in the U.S. Marines, his wedding and other life moments.

"I was trying to bookend 42 years of a life taken from her. Taken from us both," he said.

In this undated image provided by Constanza Del Rio/Nos Buscamos, Jimmy Thyden poses for a photo with his wife Johannah, and their two daughters, Ebba Joy, 8, left, and Betty Grace, 5, center, at the Valdivia Airport in Valdivia, Chile. Jimmy Thyden and his family went on a trip to Valdivia to meet his biological mother. (Constanza Del Rio/Nos Buscamos via AP)

The Chilean nonprofit Nos Buscamos also helped and found Thyden had been born prematurely at a hospital in Santiago, Chile's capital.

According to Thyden, he was taken from Gonzalez’s care and placed in an incubator. She was then instructed to leave the hospital.

When she returned to get her baby, she was told he had died and his body had been disposed of.

He was a case of "counterfeit adoption," a child-trafficking scheme that coincided with many other human rights violations that took place during the 17-year reign of Gen. Augusto Pinochet, who led a Chilean coup to overthrow Marxist President Salvador Allende in the 1970s.

Nos Buscamos estimates tens of thousands of babies were taken from Chilean families in the 1970s and 1980s.

"The real story was these kids were stolen from poor families, poor women that didn’t know. They didn’t know how to defend themselves," said Constanza del Rio, founder and director and Nos Buscamos.

This undated image provided by Jimmy Thyden shows Thyden as a child. Now 42, Thyden got to embrace his birth mother for the first time during a long-awaited family reunion in Valdivia, Chile, in August 2023. (Jimmy Thyden via AP)

During the dictatorship, at least 3,095 people were killed, according to government figures, and tens of thousands more were tortured or jailed for political reasons.

Nos Buscamos has been partnering for two years with genealogy platform MyHeritage, which provides free at-home DNA testing kits for distribution to Chilean adoptees and suspected victims of child trafficking in Chile.

While Thyden was successfully reunited with his birth family, he recognizes that reunification might not go as well for other adoptees.

"It could have been a much worse story," he said. "There are people who find out some really unfortunate details about their origin."

In this image provided by Constanza Del Rio/Nos Buscamos, Jimmy Thyden, right, hugs his brother Pablo Leiva Gonzalez as Maria Angelica Gonzalez, his Chilean birth mother, left, looks on in Valdivia, Chile, on Aug. 17, 2023. (Constanza Del Rio/Nos Buscamos via AP)

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While in Chile, Thyden and del Rio met with one of seven investigators working to address thousands of counterfeit adoption cases like his own.

Thyden also met with Juan Gabriel Valdes, the Chilean ambassador to the United States, who said there was no mechanism, financial or otherwise, to assist Chilean adoptees in their efforts to visit their home country.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.