Randy O'Grenski and son Josh O'Connor
Image Credit: Shayla Davis
July 26, 2015 - 9:00 PM
KAMLOOPS – He spent his entire life never meeting his biological father, but after one Facebook post they were reunited in a matter of hours.
“It’s always been at the back of my mind, but I never had the nerve to do it,” Josh O’Connor says of tracking down his biological father.
After some gentle prodding from fiancée Shayla Davis, the pair decided to conduct a Facebook search, complete with photos, to track down dad Randy O’Genski.
O’Connor, 26, grew up in Revelstoke and it was just he and his mom Tanya until she remarried when he was three-years-old. Stepdad Jay was the man in O’Connor’s life, until he became a teenager and had questions about who his biological dad was.
“Basically I got curious for (mom) to tell me who he was. They were together for only a short period,” O’Connor says.
It was fiancée Davis, who encouraged O’Connor to take his search to Facebook. A previous search had only turned up a disconnected phone number.
Davis conducted a quick google search and found a recent photo of O’Genski. She posted it next to O’Connor’s on her Facebook wall and asked friends “to share the crap out of it.”
Within hours, the daughter of O’Genski’s best friend contacted Davis. Davis contacted the best friend, who promised to make contact with O’Genski himself.
Posted on July 21 at 10:30 p.m., father and son were reunited by 7 p.m. the next day.
According to Davis, after O’Genski saw pictures of his son, he knew immediately.
“He saw the pics which I had sent him and just knew that was his son. He told me and Josh no DNA test was needed.”
O’Connor adds, “Everybody that has seen pictures has said we’re basically twins.”
When the two were finally able to speak, O’Connor says, “He told me he wished he’d known me before; he said he always wished he had a son.”
“I would push anybody to find who they’re looking for. Just do it, social media is changing the world. Ten years ago we wouldn’t have been able to do this.”
To contact a reporter for this story, email Dana Reynolds at dreynolds@infonews.ca or call 250-819-6089. To contact an editor, email mjones@infonews.ca or call 250-718-2724.
News from © iNFOnews, 2015