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Son of homeless Florida piano player speaks out

TAMPA, Fla. (WFLA) – They didn’t speak for 15 years. But thanks to a viral video, and some help from 8 On Your Side, a Sarasota homeless man reconnected with his son.

More than 7.5 million people have seen the viral video of Donald Gould playing the piano. It’s that video that allowed Gould to reunite with his son, Donny. Gould’s son didn’t know if his dad was dead or alive until he saw the video. On Tuesday night 24-Hour News 8’s sister station WLFA-TV helped arrange a chat for the father and son.

Donny’s (adoptive) parents told WLFA-TV they just hope this reunion leads somewhere positive.

“I’ve thought sometimes about it, of exactly where he might have been and what he might have been doing,” Donny said. “I did get a couple of tears in my eyes just knowing he was out there and just knowing he knew he had a son out there and that he was looking for me.”

“In the 15 years we have had him, we’ve never had any sort of contact with him or anyone saying he was trying to get in contact with him so we never really dealt with it or thought about it,” Donny’s adoptive father Darryl said. “We went home and watched it and sure enough by the name and stuff we knew that that’s who it was and, by the story he told, we knew enough information to know that this was it.”

“We were in shock because we have never seen him. We never knew of him ever being around. It’s not even a name or someone that would ever even come up. It’s almost like he didn’t even exist,” Terri, Donny’s adoptive mother, said.

Gould entered rehab Wednesday with a friend. He hopes he can heal and eventually form a relationship with Donny.