Defying odds of one hundred million to one to find long lost mum | 60 Minutes Australia

he has to be the unluckiest and the luckiest man in the world when Joel de Cartier was five he got hopelessly lost from his mother in a bustling city market in the Philippines try as he might he couldn't find her so he was taken to a local orphanage and eventually adopted by a caring Australian family for the next 30 years Joel was an Aussie but he always wanted to find his birth mother late last year he started looking and guess what he was a 100 million to one chance but he found her now there's another chapter in this remarkable story Sydney Airport this week and amid the crowds joel jakarta ray and his adoptive mom julie are awaiting the arrival of a very special visitor [Music] Joel's birth mother Armenia who he lost 30 years ago and only recently found he's making her first ever trip to Australia to see the man he's become it's a real it's really surreal you know six months ago never would have thought that my biological mum would be sitting next to me and we get to get to hang out is it nice to see him again to be here very happy very excited Joel's story has come full circle he was five years old when he became lost in a crowd at Manila market after wandering away from home he ended up in an orphanage where 18 months later he was adopted by Julie de Carter a he was a dear little boy I always knew that there was another woman out there who loved him never for a minute thinking that I would meet her Joel settled into a perfect life in Melbourne but yearned to reconnect with his roots it's just so hard like where do I start so late last year he headed back to the Philippines Dube missing boy in search of himself 1985 with few clues Joel trolled the back streets of Manila even appearing on one of the nation's biggest TV shows after a few heartbreaking setbacks he finally found the woman who brought him into the world she just started sobbing and hugged me [Music] probably after about like five or ten minutes I started to start to feel it and I was like are these Ashley's this is my mom so this is Sydney mom is a very famous scientist since their reunion at the start of the year they've kept in constant touch and over the next two weeks Fermi Nia will see firsthand her son's life from the sights and sounds of his adopted country welcome home that to his home in inner city remember this man and his work as a filmmaker now making his own documentary about that magical moment in Manila Township and he's two beloved moms it's just incredible it's incredible to find somebody amongst all those people it's wonderful it's just a happy ending everybody loves a happy ending

Channel: 60 Minutes Australia

Views: 517,121

Rating: 4.9265413 out of 5

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Id: GJ6b58aLMxM

Length: 4min 18sec (258 seconds)

Published: Tue Apr 10 2018