. >> reporter: it all started in may 2017, when investigative genealogist pam slaton bedding a pleading e-mail from a friend of the martins. >> i'm writing to you because they're currently overwhelmed with aggressive cancer treatment. when someone's desperately ill you immediately make this a priority and jump in. >> reporter: pam reaches out to rob's wife jackie to tell her she'd take on rob's case pro bo bono. >> she was so kind. she was like, give me all the information. >> reporter: but rob has little information for pam to start with. his adoptive parents took him under their care when he was a baby. >> i remember when i was younger i did ask my mom about my birth mom and her answer was, "i'm your mom, why do you want to know about her?" >> reporter: when he was in his 20s both his adoptive parents and adoptive brother died. in the span of two years, all the family he's ever known, gone. that would be crushing for me. >> i was depressed for years. years. literally years. >> reporter: it wasn't until the birth of his own daughter, aurelia, now 3, rob first decided he'd try to find h