Cary man reunited with his sister for the first time in over 50 years

RDU (WTVD) -- ABC11 Together brings you the remarkable story of a brother and sister reunited for the first time in their life since birth.

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The two were both given up for adoption at a very young age and met for the very first time in over 50 years at RDU airport Wednesday.

Cary resident Allen Smith practically spent his whole life thinking he was an only child.

"She is everything, absolutely everything I would envision I would have in a sister," Smith said. "Oh crap," he said as he started tearing up, "Now I got it, it's very cool."

"It's just mind-blowing," his sister, Bambi Will said. "There's somebody here that cares, and I care for him. So, it's amazing. It's a miracle."

The two share the same mother and are just one year and two months apart in age.

While Will spent the last 30 years across the country in Bend, Oregon, searching for Smith - the former marine and documentary film producer didn't even know she existed.

It was his adopted parents that revealed otherwise just a few years ago.

"My parents were really on their deathbed, and my mother had Alzheimer's, and my father had dementia when he passed," Smith said. "My father knew things were kind of going south and really before he died, he looked at me and he said, 'Just so you know, you have a sister in this world.'"

A DNA test revealed that Will was trying to find him all along.

"Not really having a family and wanting desperately to have one...somebody that cared that I was alive," Will said, tearing up as she described her motivation to search throughout those 30 years.

Shocked by her determination to find him, Smith invited ABC11 to join him for the once in a lifetime moment.

While more than 50 years may have escaped them and states separated them, Smith and Will are looking forward to catching up on missed time.

"The future is going to be incredible," Smith said. "I mean, I want to take her around the world on my trips."

"The future...is forever," Will said.