Positivity: Twins Reunited after Almost a Half-Century
It occurred in a hospital (HT Good News Blog):
Identical twins reunited after nearly five decades apart
8/7/2006, 2:31 p.m. ETJACKSON, Mich. (AP) — It’s hard for Bob Mican to talk about his identical twin, Al Tyson, without crying.
The last time he saw his brother was in 1958. Their path separated. They lost touch.
But in June, they came together for the first time in nearly 48 years.
“We used to be so close together, and it’s just like part of my life is complete now,” said Mican, who traveled 1,500 miles from Beeville, Texas, to his brother’s home in Jackson.
His eyes glistened from behind his glasses, and a tear appeared in the corner of his eye. His voice trembled as he spoke.
….. Growing up in Texas, Mican and Tyson agreed they were inseparable. At about 16, Tyson said, they both joined the Navy and were stationed together in Kingsville, Texas.
But Tyson was discharged because of his age. Mican said he doesn’t know why he wasn’t.
Tyson moved to Jackson with a friend to look for a job, and the brothers lost contact. When he got to Michigan, Tyson said he fell in with the wrong crowd and began drinking heavily. At 21, Tyson changed his last name to that of his friend’s family, who he said wanted to adopt him.
Mican said he had no idea how to reach his brother.
But through the years, Tyson had been in touch with the brother’s half-sister. Mican’s daughter, Cheryl Mican, got Tyson’s phone number from her aunt and called him about five years ago.
Mican’s other daughter, Peggy Sue Mican, started writing Tyson. And about two years ago, the brothers spoke again for the first time in decades.
Mican’s children began to plan a trip to Michigan several months ago so the brothers could reunite.
“They’d never met me or seen me,” Tyson said. “I guess they just wanted to see what kind of character they’ve got for an uncle.”
The plans took an unexpected turn when Tyson was admitted to Foote Hospital for respiratory distress. Mican said he didn’t know Tyson went into the hospital until he, his wife and three of their four children arrived in Michigan.
“When his wife told me they put him in the hospital Monday night, it was like somebody shot me,” Mican said. “I fell to pieces.”
During a visit at the hospital, family members crowded into the small hospital room. Mican climbed into his brother’s bed. Tyson put his arm around Mican, who clasped it with his own.
Mican held Tyson’s head and pulled it against his, and both smiled and laughed with their families.
Being reunited is the “best thing that ever happened in my life,” Tyson said.
Now that they have re-entered each other’s lives, Mican and Tyson both say this is just the first of many visits to come.
The brothers don’t intend to lose touch a second time.
“It’s my father’s one real brother,” Peggy Sue Mican said, “To make him happy makes us happy, too.”
