stont tonight. a father's urgent search for answers to find the mother he never knew. >> he was a ghost. >> with time running out. why his bloodline could be a lifeline. an emotional five month journey with an investigative genealogists. >> i started getting messages from his birth mom. >> the shocking discovery. the powerful reunion. this special edition of ""nightline"" finding mom will be right back. ht back.

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""nightline"" finding mom continues. buy ron pits reporting. >> reporter: you're looking at a man who loves his daughter, his fa family, his life. but it's a life filled with secrets. rob martin is now on a quest to find the birth family he never knew. >> for my daughter's sake. i wanted to give her a foothold in something. i never had any of that. no anchor in anything. >> but he could have

of time. he's battling rleukemia. >> i've had fevers on and off for five days. >> and may need a bone marrow transplant. >> the search for his bloodline could prove to be a lifeline. tonight we go on a five-month journey to find the birth mother he's spent a lifetime looking for. >> she was a ghost. >> i've heard a lot of descriptions of mothers but never a ghost. >> she's someone who was in my head that i couldn't touch.touc. >> it all started in may of 2017 when investigative genealogist pam gets a pleading e-mail from the friends of the martin. >> they're overwhelmed with aggressive cancer treatment. when someone is desperately ill, you make this a priority and

jump in. >> she says she'llak te on pro . >> she was so kind. she was like give me all the information. >> but rob has little information for pam to start with. his adoptive parents took them under their care when he was a baby. >> i did ask my mom when i was younger about my birth mom and her answer was i'm your mom. why do you want to know about her? >> then when he was in his 20s, both his adoptive parents and adoptive brother died. in a span of two years all the family he's ever known gone. >> i was depressed for years. >> it wasn't until the birth of his own daughter, now three years old, that rob first decided he'd try to find his buy logical mother. what information did you find out on your own? >> i got the nonidentifying adoption records from the state. >> this is it. >> that's it.

i found out my mother was 16. >> what was this informayo as limited as it is, is it comforting, reassuring, frustrating? >> before i got this, she was a ghost. that's solid information that my mother existed? >> a glimmer of hope, but nothing that brought him closer to finding his birth mother. it was just four months after that that cancer would strike. a leukemia. he's immediately admitted to the hospital far 30-day stay and begins chemotherapy. >> i thought he was going to die. he couldn't even stand. he started losing his hair. >> this morning his doctor told us that he's going to need a bone marrow transplant. >> we were told it's better with family members. >> i don't like to ask for anything. it feels like greed. >> we, you're not asking for a $50 loan. >> i know. >> potentially to save your life. >> from someone i've never met and who made the conscious

decision to remove me from her life. >> then just a month after his initial prognosis, finally some good news. >> i'm in remission. less than 30 days from my admission. >> i was in full remission which was even now, it's like, you know, it was a gift. >> whemoves you still? >> yes. >> his doctor says there's a one in three chance the cancer could return, and a bone marrow transplant isn't off the table. he has to undergo four more rounds of chemo, but his gre greatest fear isn't for himself. it's for his daughter. >> you don't have a memory at two years old. my fear is her not knowing meli

intensifies her search focusing first oindin 'sit youn a birth name. opd, inal na. your date of birth certificate is amended>> hisamended birth certificateensew yo. using that information along with his birth s uncovers his last name, gaa. i was compiling a list of garzas thatere roughly 16 years old rn he tate t >> next she through his es dna p results searching for any leads that could whittlee d h n honed in on.

aweird,siongenealogist. brz to >> pam coaxheanom w siblings. >> one person she said to me over the phone was deborah, and alarm bells went off. deborah garza was on the short list for potential mothers for rob. >> i'm just afraid about making that phone call, because i'm going to be really upset if his birth mother is not open to contact. >> but when pam calls deborah, she gets hungt morning ipgeinges birth mom. i would like t knowo whatou're lngkioo i'm not a advnocateorinfoation

agssmeut be,choice. so i wrote back, i'm helping someone who is adopted. he was born72 andnhe twaam iazing, the complete tone of the text messages son give up for adopti. i think about him every day. >> pregnant at 16, deborah garza says her mother made herreegn hi rend the baby via c-section. >> they completely knocked me t. see the baby when the baby was born. i guess who c in with my mother and told me to sign this paper, sign this paper, sign this h what is thi. rr i tewaerstold,se papers tdnaer

life. you' re still young. you'll have how? >>wasmoer. unwed mother was a huge stigma at the time. >> n only were they he grieve. you're losing yourg up, a moth prepare themselves. >> i don't knowow i'm going toc. >> for they never >> deborah? >> deborah? >> yes. the mercedes-benz winter event is back, and you won't want to stop for anything else.

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this special edition "nightline" continues. >> turn left to merge onto -- >> i'm walking into someone's life and delivering really sensitive, emotional information. >> investigative genealogist is on their way to a patient who has been searching for his mother for years without success. >> your biggest fears? >> rejection again. i don't know if she looked for me or thought of me. she made the decision not to have me in her life. but it would be great. i would love to have a mother. we will see, i guess. >> pam? >> we finally meet. in. >> how are you? how you feeling?

>> good. i feel great. >> you look good. >> thank you. >> pam walks him through what she found. >> first things first. your name at birth was garza. >> okay. >> nice to meet you, mr. garza. >> thank you. >> then she reveals the identity of his birth mother. >> deborah garza. >> wow. deborah garza. >> was 16 when you were born. she absolutely did not want to give you up. you okay? let me let you get a breath. >> yeah. >> she wantsouo t s veloyo very much. >> wow. wow. >> here's the other thing. she wants to talk to you

tonight. >> oh. >> i didn't give her any information about you. she doesn't know what you've been going through with the leukemia. i didn't want her to think that you were searching for her for >>ontreas ton.o come back and the first thing i do is start asking her for stuff. >> pam gives him his birth mother's phone number and heads out. >> all right. enjoy. >> that's pretty heavy. every night. i don't know how to feel about it, to be quite honest. it's weird. i mean, finding out that she exists. my head is like -- >> the ia of speaking to a buy logical family member for the first time is nerve wracking for any adopted person, but rob has another hurdle. how to break the news to his birt mot that he's sick. tohand. in virginia beach, deborah anxiously awaits rob's phone

call surrounded by rob's two half siblings and their children. >> you ready? >> an hour after pam leaves with his wife jackie by his side, rob finally makes the call. >> hello? >> hi. yeah. um, deborah? >> yes. >> this is -- it's rob, your -- >> your name is rob in. >> yeah. yeah. rob martin. >> martin? >> yeah. >> wow. >> it's great to hear your voice, actually. it's very strange. >> yeah. >> i never expected this day to come. >> i never did either. i always dreamed of this. always. i never forgot you. >> that's -- that's amazing to hear. >> i didn't know anything about

you. i didn't know where you were. i didn't know who adopted you. i didn't see you after you were born.? >> jacqueline martin. she was a nurse at that hospital. >> so she knew my mother. >> rob and deboraho their mothe worked at the same hospital and must have arranged for the birth and adoption to all happen under their control. then rob decides to control what he's been nervous about telling to his birth family. >> i want to tell you something. i'm battling leukemia. i'm in omire think i searched you out for anything, but to know where i came from and for my daughter to know where she came ing sick, i don't wano thinec i ythinebong. >> if yit, ild

give it. oh, man. are you okay in. >> he'sot gne >> one more month of chemo. i'm in remission. >> his newfound family offering the lifeline if he ever needed it, and they promised to meet after he finishes his cancer treatment. >> this is one of the greatest days of my life. >> this is the best day of my life. let me tell you. i can't wait to see your face now. >> oh, my god. i'm so happy for you. >> i was give away to strangers. my mother had answers for me. and her mother had answers for ket tth gveith inrmion, soame existence about each other for the last 45 years.

which is heavy. there we go. >> a week later -- >> yeah. i'm anxious. >> rob is getting what he hopes will be his last chemo treatment. >> now we're running. >> that marks the end of five months right there. that slow drip. >> i'm going to disconnect it. >> thank you so much. >> the next month -- >> who you going to go see? >> uncle rob. >> deborah and her family have come up from virginia beachhe f. >> i just want to see him. i'm this close. i'm excited. i can't wait. >> how you feeling about today?. the inialinteractio etinsomeone in for the first time who is blood,

it's new.new. >> my heart is pumping. this is nerve wracking. >> want to meet your family? there she is. that's grandma. >> hi. hi. oh, my god. >> in this life, there are moments with feelings so deep, emotions so raw, there are no n i never thoht it was going to >> i aew itas gng to y. ne it seems to me there was a

point where both of you thought the other wouldn't want to see the other. >> i did want him. i was told just forget it and move on. you'll get over it. you'll have more kids. >> do you ever get over it in. >> i never got over it. now, now i'm over it. now, yeah. >> the siblings piece together they actually all grew up in the name neighborhood in new york city. >> this is like a big complete puzzle. >> there's no way we did not pass each other a million times. >> there's no possible way. >> we basically grew up in the same streets and everything. even though we weren't together, we were still together. >> what now? >> now he's got a big family. a mieah. >> certainly there are regrets, what-ifs and the sweet unanswerable question what truly

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we've been told that deborah and rob are now two peas in a pod. in fact, rob and his two new siblings celebrated their birthdays together for the very first time. thank you for watching "nightline," and thanks for the company, america. happy thanksgiving.