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

Debbie Olson
COURAGEOUS. SUPPORTIVE. POSITIVE. I grew up always knowing my “dad” was not my biological father. I was 6 years old

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

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

Susan Penwarden
RELENTLESS. CARING. PATIENT. Easter weekend, 1967 while my father’s great aunt we received a call to say that my maternal

NORMA GOULD
GUARDED. EMPATHETIC. LOVING. How to do you put your life story into a page? You leave out a lot of

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

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

Justin Jenkins
It changed so much for me, specifically how I perceived myself. If you are not in a similar situation, I understand it’s hard to grasp why it is so life changing, but it does change things, dramatically. I felt lost and that some fundamental part of my identity had been stolen from me.

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

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

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

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

Diana Hochberg
BRAVE. KIND. PERSISTENT. My name is Diana Kayla Hochberg. I became a widow at thirty-five and a solo mom to

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

Kristina Swenson
I. EXPECT. MORE. There are so many emotions for me being adopted that made this very hard to write, but

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

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

Lydia Mackey
ADVOCATE. EMPATHETIC. BRAVE. Let me begin my story at five years old when my mother dropped me off with my

Dawn Gable
RESILIENT. EMPATHETIC. CURIOUS. After being in reunion with my birth parents and our extended family for 35+ years, my DNA

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

Kathleen Shea Kirstein
RESILIENT. GIVING. LOYAL. Wendy. Kathleen. Janet. It seems I am collecting first names along my journey as a Late Discovery

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

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

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

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

David Berry
DAD. ENTREPRENEUR. ADVOCATE. In September 2017, after digging for explanations of an Ancestry.com DNA test that didn’t add up, I

Beth Steury
RESILIENT. PROCESSING. FOUNDLING. I always knew that I was adopted, as did my three younger brothers, each of us adopted

Michael B Greene
KIND. EMPATHIC. RESPONSIBLE. In mid-December 2018 I received a letter from a genealogist. It read: “… I am reaching out

Krista Driver
INDEPENDENT. RESILIENT. DETERMINED. Everything I know about my “beginnings” is what I was told by the adults in my world

Jillian Phillips
AMBITIOUS. COMPASSIONATE. INDEPENDENT I cannot remember a time in my life that I did not know I was donor-conceived. I

Brad Ewell
DRIVEN. INTELLIGENT. PERCEPTIVE. I was born in 1970 and raised in the Dallas, Texas, area by two loving parents. My

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

Lynne Spencer
MOTHER. EXPLORER. THERAPIST Early in 1993, my dad passed away. A few days later, while walking in the mall with

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

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

Peter J. Boni
AUTHOR. ADVOCATE. ENTREPRENEUR “Misattributed” was a term totally unfamiliar to me. Misaligned, misinformed, misappropriated, and other “mis” words I comprehended.

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

Michèle Dawson Haber
INQUISITIVE. DOGGED. IMPASSIONED. I am a step-adoptee. Until three years ago, I never said these words to myself. It’s not

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

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

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

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

Brenna Cottongim
GENUINE. COMPASSIONATE. HOPEFUL. The day after Mother’s Day 2018 my 92-year-old mother decided to tell me a secret she had

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

Joni Mantell
OPEN. ADVOCATE. THERAPIST. I am a late discovery donor-conceived person. I found this out at age 60, after raising an

Cassandra Adams
MOTHER. ADVOCATE. WRITER. As a mom and someone who dealt with infertility, I truly understand the desire for and joy

David Bynum
LOYAL. DRIVEN. CONSISTENT. I’m a late reunion adoptee. I was born in the state of Ohio in the late 50s

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

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

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

Heather Roan Robbins
MONTANAN. ASTROLOGER. WRITER. I got the shock right before I turned 65 last summer. It started with a dream, an

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

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

Erin Maya
TRUTH-SEEKER. TENACIOUS. EMPATHIC. My dad, Pat, was sick with cancer my entire life. He went in and out of remission

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

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

Kevin Martin
CREATIVE. INTROSPECTIVE. INQUISITIVE. I was born in London, Ontario Canada in September 1986 with the help of an anonymous sperm

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

Andre Williams
CREATIVE. TENACIOUS. ARTIST. My name is Andre Williams. Born in March 1994, I was brought to The Brooklyn Hospital Center

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

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

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

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

David Wrate
MAKER. PRGAMTIST. SOLVER I always knew I was adopted. My adoptive parents used to say, “When we got David” as

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

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

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

Mark Hansen
BETTER. EMPATHETIC. DECENT. In 2013 my 79-year-old father had been in and out of the hospital repeatedly and then had

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

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

Jill Lovinger
JOYFUL. INQUISITIVE. ADVENTUROUS. On June 2, 1978 at the St Francis Hospital in Peoria, IL, I was born. Less than

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

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

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

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

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