Finding An Unknown Sibling

By Lauren Klotzman

“When I was at that starting line, I had only one thing on my mind — win the

race,” Daniel Karast said. “Then, I looked to my left, and there I was.”

Karast is a senior track star, who was adopted by Bill and Jana Karast when he

was a year old after his parents had died from a car accident when he was 13 months

old. Neither of his original parents had family relatives, so Daniel had always thought

that he was an only child. At a track competition, he met a person named Donald

Stephens who turned out to be his brother.

“When Daniel called us from the track meet and started babbling over the phone

that he had a brother, we didn’t know what to think,” Daniel’s mother, Jana Karast said.

“My husband and I had no idea that Daniel’s birth mother was pregnant at the time of

the car accident… If we had known, we would have adopted both babies.”

Daniels birth mother had died in a car accident while she was pregnant with

Stephens. Daniel had never know he even had a brother, but Stephens had known and

made it his life goal to find his brother one day.

“I always knew one day I would find my brother, but I had no idea he was only 30

miles away this whole time,” Donald Stephens said. “When I saw him at the track meet,

I knew instantly it was him. I just knew.”

Both of the boys love to play baseball and will compete against each other in the

playoffs. All of their parents have become friends and the boys say it feels like a great
big family. Both parents are happy to cheer on the boys together, and hope for the best

team to advance farther in there sports.

“He’s so proud to have a brother, and the Stephens are lovely people,” Jana

said. “It’s been such a fascinating month — almost like a dream. We will all sit together

at the playoff games. We are going to cheer for both teams, both boys. We will support

whoever advances to state.”

Both teams have advanced to the playoffs and are good players. Daniel’s team

at Leaguetown High School is undefeated and he has a .420 batting average, Which is

above average. Stephens’s team at Southside High School has lost two games and he

has a .333 batting average, which is a little higher than average. Both of the boys love

to spend time together practicing their skills. Both of them are looking forward to going

to the UIL Baseball Tournament.

“We’ve practiced baseball together a few times, so we know each other’s

pitches,” Daniel said. “He has a better curveball, but my fast ball is faster and a bit more

accurate. I am excited about the games. It’s going to be an even match up this

weekend.”

Both of the boys said that they are grateful for that track meet where they met.

The boys both look the same, excel in track, math, art and baseball, and both want to

attend Texas A&M University to get an Engineer career.

“I kind of freaked out until I heard the starting pistol,” Daniel said. “Winning

second was great, but finding Donald was incredible. It was the best day of my life.”