Deanna Shrodes spent 10 years searching for her biological father, determined to find him and learn of her origins. It was not until May 2022 that she finally met her father after much prayer and searching.
The ordained minister from Florida had already met with her biological mother and had a relationship with her for 20 years until she died in 2019 from cancer. She did not reveal anything about Deanna’s biological dad except that he was Greek and from Richmond, Virginia.
She set out to make Facebook groups to get help from others and signed up with DNA registries, hoping that there would be a match somehow, after all these years. For all that she knew, her biological dad could have been dead and long gone.
She prayed to God and asked for help to find her dad. In her prayer, God told her that her father’s name was Gus. “I told my husband, I told my best friend Laura … I said, ‘Listen, guys, you might think I’m crazy, but I was in prayer. God spoke this to me: Your father’s name is Gus.'” Shrodes explains.
After a decade of searching that began in 2012, Deanna Shrodes received wonderful news in May 2022. There had been a DNA match with a cousin she never knew she had.
“I reached out to this cousin and I said, ‘We’ve just matched on 23andMe’. … And he said, ‘I think you’re my Uncle Gus’ daughter.’ And I said, ‘I think that, too.'”
Deanna Shrodes says that she was prepared to find a grave of her dad but when she found him in person, alive, she just could not believe it. “It was just absolutely mind-blowing,” Shrodes said.
Sure enough, as God had revealed to her in prayer, Deanna’s dad was Gus Nicholas, a 92-year-old retired ballroom dance instructor who had been in Richmond all his life and was a bachelor who never married.
Deanna was beyond excited to know more about her dad but was anxious if he would ever want to meet her or accept her at all. Turns out, her dad was elated to know that he had a family all along and could not believe that his prayers had been answered.
“He said, ‘I woke up this morning and I was alone. … And now this afternoon, I have a daughter. I have a son-in-law. I have three grandchildren. I have great-grandchildren. …I ‘m not alone in the world anymore.'”
Unfortunately, Gus had a fall and was kept in a nursing home, as he could no longer take care of himself. So when Deanna with her husband met him, he requested them that they don’t let him die in the nursing home.
Gus would say to me … ‘Please don’t let me die in here. Don’t let me die in here.’ And I said, ‘You know what? I’m going to make sure.'” In a remarkable gesture, although they were practically strangers to each other, Gus was then asked to live with them and was brought to their home outside Tampa, Florida.
Gus now occupies the guest room and is decorated with his trophies and mementos from his past, brought from Richmond. Shrodes and her husband now provide for him full-time. She cooks his meals – Greek, he prefers – and feeds them to him.
Deanna is more than happy to fulfill all that her dad ever wanted until the end of his life, even as he no longer has the ability to care for himself. It was the least she could give back to him, after all he gave her life. All that she wanted from him was to tell her all about him. All the stories she has missed for 56 years.
“It’s the hardest thing. It’s the most worthwhile thing. It’s the most incredible miracle I’ve ever had the privilege to live out,” she said. “I’m living the dream.”
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