Read DNA Surprise, NPE, ADOPTIOn, & assisted reproduction Stories

EVOLVING. RESILIENT. HOPEFUL. I took an Ancestry DNA test, and my world was flipped upside down when I got my

HEALING. GENERATIONAL. TRAUMA. :::Trigger Warning::: This true story contains incidents of abuse, rape, and incest.::: My maternal great grandfather was

COURAGEOUS. CARING. GRIEF STRICKEN. For nearly 43 years I lived a lie. I had no clue. My dad that raised

CURIOUS. RESILIENT. CHEERFUL.  Being a lifelong genealogist, I was super excited to DNA test at Ancestry. When I got my

TRUTH TELLER. PERSISTENT. INTUITIVE. So much of my childhood was confusing and made no sense. They said this, and yet

LOYAL. FUNNY. DETERMINED. I had no idea that when I resigned from a position I enjoyed, my life was on

UNBREAKABLE. EMPATH. ADVOCATE. My family of origin consists of two older sisters who are 10.5 and 8 years older than

EMPATH. LONER. MUSICIAN. My MPE journey actually began in 2013 when I decided to take a DNA test for ethnicity

CREATIVE. FUNNY. LOST. My name is RiahWillow Daniels.  I learned by accident that the man on my birth certificate is not

CREATIVE. EMPATHETIC. SARCASTIC. I still to this day don’t know what way I would have preferred to find out about

LOYAL. COMPASSIONATE. SELFLESS.  I was born in 1969 in Alabama. My mother is from central Florida, but during that time

STRONG. COMPASSIONATE. TRUTH-TELLER. I wish I could say I knew something was off before my DNA surprise. In hindsight, many

FORTUNATE. CURIOUS. COMPASSIONATE. In 2013 I took a DNA test with 23andMe for fun and curiosity. I learned I had

RESILIENT. TENACIOUS. PASSIONATE. “She looks Mexican.” That’s what I remember my Polish grandmother saying the one and only time I

INQUISITIVE. PASSIONATE. LOYAL. Ever since I found out I had an NPE in February 2021, it has been a tough

CURIOUS. DETERMINED. ADVENTUROUS. I’m a year and a half into my MPE. It’s been tough but I wouldn’t change it

DETERMINED. CARING. LOVING I grew up in Hollywood, North Hollywood to be specific, and I always felt as if I

KIND. LOYAL. DEPENDABLE. Like most NPE’s (Non-Parental Event) I came from a very dysfunctional family. I was sent to live

CURIOUS. BALANCED. LOVING. Every MPE story has a starting point. The discovery comes entirely by surprise for many, whereas it

HONESTY. FORGIVENESS. GRATITUDE. What makes you…you? What shapes your identity? There are many answers to this question, but I’m going

CURIOUS. COMMITTED. COLLABORATIVE. When I discovered in 2015 that I was an NPE, I was already no stranger to the

TEACHER. ACTOR. MUSICIAN.  Christmas Eve 2021 will be the fifth anniversary of my mother’s passing. She had been in a

LOYAL. COURAGEOUS. PERSISTENT. On December 24, 2018, my grandson’s first Christmas Eve, I made a discovery that would change my

TENACIOUS. LOVING. COMMITTED. MPE is an acronym from the field of psychology that stands for misattributed parentage experience. This occurs due

CARING. GIVING. DETERMINED. My mother was married to my dad Joseph for 16 years. During that time, seven children were

TECHNOLOGIST. BILINGUAL. FAMILY MAN. In May of 2018, after taking advantage of a 23andme.com Mother’s Day 2 for 1 special,

COMPASSIONATE. DOER. SEEKER. In 2011 my mother started to document our family tree and joined Ancestry.com. As DNA kits became

COMPASSIONATE. LOYAL. THOUGHTFUL. I was always told by my mom that we had Native American ancestors from my dad Robert’s

DEVOTED. CARING. ADVENTUROUS. Have you always known who you were? I mean, really known, for sure? Not philosophically, but physically,

STRONG. DETERMINED. FAITHFUL. In late 2014 I ordered a home DNA kit from Ancestry because I was interested in learning

WARM-HEARTED. FORGIVING. INFLUENTIAL. My story began in January of 2017. The loss of my father was shocking, devastating, and heartbreaking

ADVENTUROUS. DEDICATED. CREATIVE. I was born in 1980 in Seattle, Washington to a self-loving woman and her husband, my birth

WELCOMING. DETERMINED. CARING. My mom happened to be the genealogy queen of the family, so I decided for her birthday

DRIVEN. PERSISTENT. DETERMINED. I was three years old when my dad left, and when he was gone, so was any

OBSERVING. ADVOCATING. EVOLVING. “You become. It takes a long time. That’s why it doesn’t happen often to people who break

RESILIENT. LOYAL. FIERCE. I had a rocky, on and off-again relationship with the man I knew as my Dad my

UNDERSTANDING. FORGIVENESS. COMPASSION. I grew up in a home in Phoenix, Arizona where I was loved and doted on by

RESILIENT. FAIR. PERSISTENT. I always knew I l was different, I would look at my baby pictures and see a

MOTHER. TEACHER. INSPIRER. I’ve been interested in family history and our origins for as long as I can remember. I

INTROSPECTIVE. FAMILY. TENACIOUS. My name is Bruce-Paul. I’m an NPE: Non-Paternal Event because I had a misattributed parentage experience. I

LOVING. CURIOUS. DETERMINED. I am one of 7 children born to my mother, I’m next to the youngest, one of

WIFE. MOTHER. PHENOMENAL WOMAN. I never asked my mom or dad the whole time I was growing up why I

MOTHER. POET. WRITER. The first strong memory I have is being on a ship with my beloved nursemaid, Gladys. I

FATHER. HARD WORKER. FAMILY. In December of 2018, my Aunt offered to send my wife and I DNA tests. She

WRITER. WIFE. COMPLETE. When you look at family tree charts, they’re beautiful. The roots run deep, hidden, all the way

NURSE. RETIRED. CARETAKER. The man I’d always known as my father said some startling things on his deathbed. You know,

MOTHER. ADVOCATE. STORYTELLER. I was born in Seattle to a single mom. My dad, who’d cleaned himself up briefly had