LEE’S SUMMIT, MO (WDAF/CNN) - It’s a family reunion that’s been more than half a century in the making. Cindi Woratzeck tracked down her mom after being apart from her for 51 years and got the reunion she’d looked forward to for decades.
“Fifty-one years. I was two years old when my father took me,” Woratzeck said.
She approached her mom and sister at the airport, laying eyes on them for the first time since that incident.
“We just hugged,” she said. “My mother, hugging her for the first time, seeing her, was something special. I’ll never forget.”
She said growing up with so many questions was tough.
“For a long time, I never thought that I would ever meet them,” she said of her mother and sister. “I didn’t even know if she was still alive.”
After watching a news report about a woman who had been reunited with family, then commenting on the story on Facebook, the unthinkable happened.
“I just made a comment that I was happy for her, and that I was looking for my mother, and then this young man, HeVonte Robinson, messaged me and said, ‘I can help you,’” Woratzeck said. “Within 10 hours, he called me and had every single record of her.”
From there, she was able to contact her mom and fly to Arizona to meet her.
“I got to meet nieces and nephews, and just everyone was there, and we just had a good time, and it was like we were never really apart.” she said. “We’ve just always been a family.”
The man behind the reunion said he was happy to help.
“It amazes me every time,” said HeVonte Robinson, the private investigator who tracked down Woratzeck’s mother. “I could do a million, and the millionth one would still amaze me.”
Robinson has helped Woratzeck and others find loved ones free of charge. This year alone, he has connected four families.
“It’s just a good, bubbly feeling that you get connecting people, and being a part of that,” Robinson said. “It’s a blessing to be a blessing.”
Those on the receiving end of his help say they hope their stories can encourage others to keep searching.
“Keep praying and keep hoping and just don’t give up, because they are out there,” Woratzeck said.
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