This is the emotional moment a man breaks down in tears as he is reunited with his birth mother after ‘waiting forty years’ to find her.
Tobayi Howton, from New York City, first began searching for his biological mother in 1982 after finding out that she had given him up for adoption at birth because she was not able to financially support him.
After finally tracing her, Mr Howton flew more than 2,000 miles to San Diego where he was reunited with Thomasette Cox and the pair shared an emotional embrace.
Tobayi Howton, from New York City, broke down into tears after he was reunited with his biological mother, Thomasette Cox at her San Diego home
Mr Howton, who is in his 50s, travelled over 2,000 miles to San Diego to meet Ms Cox, and said he had spent ‘forty years’ waiting for the moment
Emotional footage, filmed on September 4, shows Mr Howton walking towards his mother and sharing a loving embrace
He is heard saying: ‘Just landed. About to take the next step for the rest of my life. Kind of like a dream come true.’
The video then cuts to Mr Howton arriving at his mother’s front door.
Pointing to her house, he says: ‘This is Mom’s house. Forty years I’ve been waiting for this.’
As Ms Cox comes out to greet him, the pair share a loving embrace.
Ms Cox can be heard telling her son: ‘Don’t cry, Don’t cry.
‘Want to come in for a glass of wine? Come on, it’s okay, let’s go inside.’
Another clip shows the smiling mother and son later taking a walk together in San Diego.
Mr Howton, who works as a tax accountant, has spoken to Ms Cox for two years before booking a plane ticket and called the moment a ‘dream’
Mr Howton says: ‘I’m taking a walk in San Diego with Mom. This is our first walk together!
”It’s awesome. My mom has got her own style as you can see.’
Mr Howton, who is now in his 50s, said he had been aware that he was adopted since he was old enough to comprehend, with his adoptive father always supporting his search for his biological parent.
When he turned 12, he wrote a letter to his adoption agency asking for details.
A letter came back with hardly any identifying information about his mother so he started the search himself.
In his twenties, Mr Howton managed to track down his birth certificate, which only gave him his mother’s last name.
Mr Howton found his biological mother by using DNA sampling websites 23andMe and Ancestry.com. He received a match to a cousin named Alicia that put him in touch with his great aunt, who was able to give him the contact details for Ms Cox
Ten years later a private investigator proved to be unsuccessful, as did websites like 23andMe and Ancestry.com, and for a decade he was no closer to finding out who his mother was.
But after being a member of DNA sampling websites for roughly two years, Mr Howton received a match to a cousin named Alicia.
She then put him in touch with his great aunt, who passed on the contact details for his birth mother, Ms Cox.
The pair talked for roughly two years and each carried out a DNA test which came back with the result Mr Howton had been waiting for, a parent-child match.
Mr Howton initially wanted to keep his video of the reunion private, but after a friend encouraged him, he posted the footage online, hoping to inspire others in similar situations.
To his surprise, the clip soon received hundreds of thousands of views.
Ms Cox and Mr Howton talked for roughly two years, they each carried out a DNA test which came back with the result they’d each been waiting for – a parent-child match
Mr Howton is pictured with his mother Ms Cox and her partner, who briefly appears on the video footage, at their home in San Diego
Speaking of the moment, he said: ‘As I got closer to her the only thing I heard was the sound of her voice and I was pretty much OK until she embraced me.
‘The moment she touched me my entire childhood flashed through my mind.
‘I allowed the little boy I unknowingly still had tucked away to have his moment, and I broke down in her arms.
‘It was his moment, his day. The first thing I would like to tell anyone is to never, ever give up.
‘My father, Theron Howton, made certain that he answered any questions that I had as best as he could and never once shunned conversation about it.
‘The way he explained it to me, I always knew that my mother gave me up because she could not provide a life for herself or me at that point in time.
‘I understood that she gave me up so that I could have a chance at a better life than she could provide, and to this day I am grateful for his honesty and open communication.’
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