Unlikely Father-Daughter Reunion At Bronx Hospital

BRONX, N.Y. (CBS 2) -- A father and daughter who hadn't seen each other for 41 years were suddenly reunited in a Bronx hospital, brought together by incredible circumstances.

Victor Peraza is dying of cancer. When he arrived at Calvary Hospital two weeks ago, he was put in nurse Wanda Rodriguez's ward.

Rodriguez said she immediately noticed the name.

"I overheard the doctor mentioning his name over the phone," she said. "He said Victor Peraza, and the second I heard that name, I just completely froze."

That was the name of the father who left her family when she was an infant. She searched his medical chart for more information.

"I said, if this patient happens to be in his sixties, more than likely there's a good chance he could be my dad, because my mom married her high school sweetheart, and she's in her sixties."

But she had to know for sure.

Rodriguez went into Peraza's room and asked if he had any children. He said, "I have Gina and Wanda. They're grown now."

That's when Rodriguez said she lost it, and told the dying man she was one of his two daughters.

Now, the man who was facing a terminal illness alone is surrounded by his grandchildren, and being cared for by a daughter who forgave him for what he did to their family four decades ago.

"It's not in my nature to hold a grudge," Rodriguez said. "I like peace. I like to make people happy. I feel blessed."

When Rodriguez told her father she forgave him, they both cried, and he started to sing the old Jay and the Americans hit, "This Magic Moment."

"I feel that this is the way it was supposed to happen," Rodriguez said. "It was fate."

Peraza said he's proud his daughter became a nurse.