Feature Story 2: Separated Brothers Name:

Disbelief

That was the reaction Daniel Kraust, a senior, had when he saw an almost mirror image
of himself at a UIL track meet in April. Daniel is the adopted son of Bill and Jana Kraust. They
adopted him when he was only a year old since Daniel’s birth parents both died after an
automobile accident when he was only 13 months old. So while warming up to compete in the
100-meter dash, learning that he might have a sibling, Daniel didn’t think much of it and didn’t
think it was real. Though when he kneeled down to get in the starting blocks and looked to his
left, Daniel was shaken by the sight.

Daniel placed Second, only a fraction of a second behind the young man who looked
exactly like him. And after the race he approached the young man and introduced himself. The
competitor introduced himself as Donald Stephen’s, a junior from SouthSide High School.

“I always knew one day I would find my brother, but I had no idea he was only 30 miles away,”
Donald said. “When I saw him at the track meet, I knew instantly it was him.”

Donald said his birth mother was nine months pregnant with him when she died after injuries
she suffered from a car accident. After the track meet, doctors confirmed that Daniel and Donald
are brothers.

“My parents had no idea that I had a brother,” Daniel said. “Apparently there was a mix-up at the
hospital, and the doctors failed to tell child services that I had a brother.”

Both teens have spent a considerable amount of time together getting to know each other over
the past month. They are similar in more than just looks, and share similar interests and
success in track, math, art, and basketball.

“He’s so proud to have a brother, and the Stephen’s are lovely people,” Jana Karast, Daniels
mother said. “It’s been such a fascinating month — almost like a dream,”

While becoming close friends, the brothers will compete against each other one more time this
school year at the regional playoff baseball games starting Friday, May 27. Both are starting
pitchers for their teams.

“At first, my baseball coach was a little worried about me playing against him,” Donald said. “He
wasn’t sure I would pitch my best, but then he saw the improvements I’ve made by practicing
with Daniel.”

Both of them hope to be engineers and attend the same university, Texas A&M University. And
the two families have started to become like one big family.

“Meeting Donald was kind of surreal,” Daniel said. “When I was at that starting line, I had only
one thing on my mind — win the race.”
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