1 00:00:00,160 --> 00:00:03,159 Speaker 1: Hi everyone, I'm Katie Curic and welcome to next question. 2 00:00:05,519 --> 00:00:09,959 Speaker 1: Who Am I? That's considered life's most fundamental question, and 3 00:00:10,000 --> 00:00:13,600 Speaker 1: it's quickly followed by where do I come from? Sure 4 00:00:13,640 --> 00:00:17,480 Speaker 1: both are somewhat philosophical, but in the age of rampant 5 00:00:17,520 --> 00:00:21,200 Speaker 1: home DNA test kids, those questions have become something more 6 00:00:21,880 --> 00:00:25,479 Speaker 1: big business. More than twenty six million people around the 7 00:00:25,480 --> 00:00:29,320 Speaker 1: world have turned to home ancestry or DNA tests hoping 8 00:00:29,320 --> 00:00:32,480 Speaker 1: to find out who they really are. The simple test 9 00:00:32,760 --> 00:00:35,680 Speaker 1: connected her with the mom she had never met, a 10 00:00:35,760 --> 00:00:38,640 Speaker 1: reunion for a mom and her son after nearly three 11 00:00:38,720 --> 00:00:42,000 Speaker 1: decades apart. Her sisters, born fifteen months apart and adopted 12 00:00:42,040 --> 00:00:45,680 Speaker 1: at birth, never knew each other existed until these DNA 13 00:00:45,760 --> 00:00:49,479 Speaker 1: tests incredibly popular. But what happens when the news is 14 00:00:49,520 --> 00:00:54,160 Speaker 1: more than we bargained for? Disturbing results, emotional fallout, and 15 00:00:54,280 --> 00:00:59,320 Speaker 1: even privacy issues. So today my next question, what really 16 00:00:59,360 --> 00:01:04,240 Speaker 1: makes us who we are? I think our sense of 17 00:01:04,319 --> 00:01:07,920 Speaker 1: identity in the very beginning comes from the stories that 18 00:01:07,959 --> 00:01:10,920 Speaker 1: were told about ourselves from the time that we can 19 00:01:11,000 --> 00:01:15,640 Speaker 1: understand anything that's Danny Shapiro, host of Family Secrets, an 20 00:01:15,680 --> 00:01:20,560 Speaker 1: intimate podcast that explores the power of untold Stories. Danny's 21 00:01:20,600 --> 00:01:24,720 Speaker 1: also a prolific author, and the podcast was actually inspired 22 00:01:25,080 --> 00:01:30,360 Speaker 1: by her latest book, Inheritance, a memoir of genealogy, paternity, 23 00:01:30,480 --> 00:01:33,319 Speaker 1: and love. And the story that I was told was 24 00:01:33,360 --> 00:01:37,440 Speaker 1: that I was the youngest grandchild of this illustrious grandfather 25 00:01:37,520 --> 00:01:42,120 Speaker 1: and grandmother. Central to Danny's identity was her Judaism. She 26 00:01:42,280 --> 00:01:45,760 Speaker 1: spoke Hebrew and also her bond with her father, the 27 00:01:45,800 --> 00:01:49,760 Speaker 1: head of a distinguished Orthodox family, And there was this 28 00:01:50,520 --> 00:01:53,880 Speaker 1: family history that was something to be very proud of. Um. 29 00:01:53,920 --> 00:01:57,240 Speaker 1: And yet there was this sense that I had as 30 00:01:57,240 --> 00:02:00,320 Speaker 1: a child of I don't fit in, I don't long 31 00:02:00,880 --> 00:02:03,600 Speaker 1: and I don't know why UM. And when you're a 32 00:02:03,680 --> 00:02:06,040 Speaker 1: child and you have that feeling and you have nothing 33 00:02:06,080 --> 00:02:11,320 Speaker 1: to connect it to the instinct, I think our impulse 34 00:02:11,480 --> 00:02:14,359 Speaker 1: is to turn that against yourself. You know, there must 35 00:02:14,360 --> 00:02:16,680 Speaker 1: be something wrong with me, because I don't feel like 36 00:02:16,720 --> 00:02:20,440 Speaker 1: I belong and I should belong. Danny not only felt other, 37 00:02:21,000 --> 00:02:24,680 Speaker 1: she looked other two. I looked like you know, Heidi 38 00:02:24,760 --> 00:02:27,640 Speaker 1: had wandered, wandered over from the Alps into the Stuttle. 39 00:02:27,760 --> 00:02:29,880 Speaker 1: You know, it was like, really, when you looked at 40 00:02:29,880 --> 00:02:31,880 Speaker 1: a picture of me with all of my cousins. It 41 00:02:31,960 --> 00:02:34,440 Speaker 1: was like, who doesn't belong in this picture? And it 42 00:02:34,560 --> 00:02:39,160 Speaker 1: was me. But I managed to feel or to tell 43 00:02:39,200 --> 00:02:42,920 Speaker 1: myself that this was some sort of just strange genetic 44 00:02:43,120 --> 00:02:47,000 Speaker 1: quirk of faith that I just came out looking so 45 00:02:47,080 --> 00:02:50,240 Speaker 1: completely different. There's a moment that I write about in 46 00:02:50,280 --> 00:02:53,200 Speaker 1: my book where a friend of my parents who is 47 00:02:53,240 --> 00:02:56,799 Speaker 1: an elderly or you know, a Holocaust survivor, was over 48 00:02:56,840 --> 00:02:59,120 Speaker 1: at our house one day for Sabbath lunch and she 49 00:02:59,200 --> 00:03:01,560 Speaker 1: patted me on the head said, this is actually Jared 50 00:03:01,600 --> 00:03:05,040 Speaker 1: Kushner's grandmother. Um. She patted me on the head, Mrs Kushner, 51 00:03:05,440 --> 00:03:07,079 Speaker 1: and she said, we could have used you in the camp. 52 00:03:07,120 --> 00:03:08,920 Speaker 1: We could have used you in the ghetto, a little blondie. 53 00:03:09,480 --> 00:03:12,400 Speaker 1: You could have gotten the spread from the Nazis. So 54 00:03:12,480 --> 00:03:17,839 Speaker 1: that was literally the story of my childhood. And then 55 00:03:17,880 --> 00:03:21,160 Speaker 1: when Danny was fifty four, she randomly decided to take 56 00:03:21,200 --> 00:03:26,200 Speaker 1: a DNA test through ancestry dot com. My husband was 57 00:03:26,240 --> 00:03:31,239 Speaker 1: taking his own DNA test recreationally, you know, really his 58 00:03:31,240 --> 00:03:34,880 Speaker 1: his kind of like he smokes marijuana a little bit 59 00:03:34,920 --> 00:03:41,880 Speaker 1: like that probably was even less um purpose. Um, his 60 00:03:42,040 --> 00:03:44,440 Speaker 1: parents were elderly. I think he was doing it really 61 00:03:44,480 --> 00:03:48,000 Speaker 1: to kind of connect with his dad, and he just 62 00:03:48,080 --> 00:03:50,520 Speaker 1: asked me if I wanted to do one too. And 63 00:03:50,560 --> 00:03:54,680 Speaker 1: I'm haunted by this today because I so easily could 64 00:03:54,680 --> 00:03:57,280 Speaker 1: have said no. It was no big deal to me. 65 00:03:57,760 --> 00:04:00,440 Speaker 1: I thought I knew everything about where I came from, 66 00:04:00,440 --> 00:04:04,440 Speaker 1: but instead something it was inexpensive. It was no big deal. 67 00:04:04,520 --> 00:04:07,640 Speaker 1: He was doing it, and I said sure and so 68 00:04:07,880 --> 00:04:10,760 Speaker 1: and that's that's why there was no purpose or suspicion 69 00:04:11,040 --> 00:04:15,840 Speaker 1: or anything. You got the results back and it showed 70 00:04:15,880 --> 00:04:20,719 Speaker 1: you were fifty two percent Eastern European Ashkenazi, but the 71 00:04:20,800 --> 00:04:24,800 Speaker 1: rest was a mixture of French, Irish, English and German. Initially, 72 00:04:24,839 --> 00:04:27,320 Speaker 1: did you say they got my results mixed up with 73 00:04:27,360 --> 00:04:32,640 Speaker 1: somebody else? I completely did. I. Um, I initially thought that, 74 00:04:32,680 --> 00:04:34,919 Speaker 1: and I thought that for a while. Actually made my 75 00:04:35,000 --> 00:04:39,440 Speaker 1: husband call ancestry dot com and get a supervisor on 76 00:04:39,440 --> 00:04:41,159 Speaker 1: the phone, which is something that happens a great deal 77 00:04:41,160 --> 00:04:44,159 Speaker 1: in those companies these days. Um. And he was told 78 00:04:44,200 --> 00:04:47,400 Speaker 1: that those kinds of mistakes are never made, which I 79 00:04:47,440 --> 00:04:50,520 Speaker 1: do think is true. UM. But yeah, no, I thought 80 00:04:50,520 --> 00:04:52,560 Speaker 1: this is a mistake. And then you talked to your 81 00:04:52,600 --> 00:04:56,600 Speaker 1: half sister, explain how I know she's a good bit 82 00:04:56,640 --> 00:05:00,360 Speaker 1: older than you. Um, and this was your father's daughter 83 00:05:00,520 --> 00:05:04,120 Speaker 1: from a previous marriage. Yes, so she's fifteen years older 84 00:05:04,120 --> 00:05:06,880 Speaker 1: than I am. And I had recalled that she had 85 00:05:06,920 --> 00:05:10,400 Speaker 1: mentioned at one point early on in the DNA testing 86 00:05:10,920 --> 00:05:13,120 Speaker 1: world that she was an early adopter of it, and 87 00:05:13,160 --> 00:05:15,600 Speaker 1: she had she had done it. So I reached out 88 00:05:15,640 --> 00:05:19,280 Speaker 1: to her, actually really at my husband's very strong suggestion, 89 00:05:19,440 --> 00:05:21,599 Speaker 1: because I was really just kind of sticking my fingers 90 00:05:21,640 --> 00:05:23,240 Speaker 1: in my ears and going, la la, la, la la, 91 00:05:23,320 --> 00:05:26,440 Speaker 1: there must be a reasonable explanation here. But so she 92 00:05:26,640 --> 00:05:32,120 Speaker 1: sent her KIT number. It's what it's called her results. 93 00:05:32,200 --> 00:05:35,560 Speaker 1: And there is a site called jet match where you 94 00:05:35,600 --> 00:05:38,960 Speaker 1: can compare to kit numbers to see what your most 95 00:05:39,000 --> 00:05:41,800 Speaker 1: recent common ancestor is, in other words, what what your 96 00:05:42,120 --> 00:05:47,320 Speaker 1: level of genetic relationship is. And when that came back, 97 00:05:47,360 --> 00:05:50,800 Speaker 1: and um, it was in this kind of foreign language 98 00:05:50,839 --> 00:05:54,479 Speaker 1: that I didn't understand. My husband did. Um. It showed 99 00:05:54,520 --> 00:05:58,400 Speaker 1: that we were not related in any way, shape or farm. Correct. 100 00:05:58,440 --> 00:06:00,400 Speaker 1: We were not sisters, were not half sisters. We are 101 00:06:00,440 --> 00:06:04,120 Speaker 1: most recent common ancestor was many generations earlier, which all 102 00:06:04,160 --> 00:06:05,919 Speaker 1: people have. You and I would have it with your 103 00:06:06,000 --> 00:06:07,680 Speaker 1: Jewish mother, you know, we we all would we all 104 00:06:07,720 --> 00:06:12,440 Speaker 1: would have it. So you said, holy shit, I said, 105 00:06:12,480 --> 00:06:16,039 Speaker 1: holy sh it. Um, I knew that it meant that 106 00:06:16,160 --> 00:06:20,800 Speaker 1: if if we weren't sisters, that my father was either 107 00:06:20,839 --> 00:06:23,080 Speaker 1: not my father or not her father. I knew it 108 00:06:23,080 --> 00:06:25,800 Speaker 1: meant he wasn't my father. Everything the pieces of the 109 00:06:25,839 --> 00:06:30,360 Speaker 1: puzzle clicked into place so quickly that there was just 110 00:06:30,400 --> 00:06:34,520 Speaker 1: this sense of of course, of course, like all of them, 111 00:06:34,680 --> 00:06:37,800 Speaker 1: from Mrs Kushner to the way that I felt that 112 00:06:37,880 --> 00:06:41,960 Speaker 1: sense of otherness. Even within my shock, there was also 113 00:06:42,120 --> 00:06:44,960 Speaker 1: this sort of backward looking sense of oh, my god, 114 00:06:45,040 --> 00:06:48,599 Speaker 1: this makes perfect sense, so a bit of relief in 115 00:06:48,680 --> 00:06:53,599 Speaker 1: a way. I didn't feel relief instantly. I felt um devastated. 116 00:06:53,839 --> 00:06:58,839 Speaker 1: I adored my dad. And I also knew very quickly 117 00:06:59,480 --> 00:07:04,720 Speaker 1: that it meant that I'm that my biological father. It 118 00:07:04,800 --> 00:07:07,679 Speaker 1: must have been a sperm donor. I knew it wasn't 119 00:07:07,680 --> 00:07:09,640 Speaker 1: that my mother had an affair. Why did you think that? 120 00:07:09,920 --> 00:07:12,960 Speaker 1: Because I would have thought, oh, maybe it was the 121 00:07:13,000 --> 00:07:15,720 Speaker 1: Swedish milkman. Yes, yeah, that would have been a completely 122 00:07:15,760 --> 00:07:18,720 Speaker 1: reasonable If you're looking at these results, the first thought 123 00:07:18,720 --> 00:07:20,920 Speaker 1: that most people would have would be my mother must 124 00:07:20,960 --> 00:07:25,520 Speaker 1: have had an affair. I had just enough clues, which 125 00:07:25,560 --> 00:07:27,400 Speaker 1: is miraculous to me when I think about it now. 126 00:07:27,960 --> 00:07:29,920 Speaker 1: I had just enough clues to be able to piece 127 00:07:29,920 --> 00:07:36,040 Speaker 1: it together. Danny knew that her parents had struggled to 128 00:07:36,080 --> 00:07:38,640 Speaker 1: get pregnant, and that they had sought help at a 129 00:07:38,680 --> 00:07:43,520 Speaker 1: fertility institute in Philadelphia, where her mom was artificially inseminated. 130 00:07:44,200 --> 00:07:47,160 Speaker 1: But what Danny would come to find out after getting 131 00:07:47,160 --> 00:07:50,840 Speaker 1: her DNA results is that the sperm that was used 132 00:07:51,120 --> 00:07:54,120 Speaker 1: was not from her dad. It was from a donor. 133 00:07:54,800 --> 00:07:57,840 Speaker 1: It sounds crazy now, but back then, when infertility was 134 00:07:57,920 --> 00:08:02,240 Speaker 1: considered private and shameful, it was common practice to mix 135 00:08:02,360 --> 00:08:05,840 Speaker 1: the father sperm with donor sperm. This allowed for at 136 00:08:05,880 --> 00:08:10,680 Speaker 1: least the possibility of biological parenthood. Couples were told this 137 00:08:10,760 --> 00:08:13,560 Speaker 1: as a treatment, and it will help boost your chances. 138 00:08:14,080 --> 00:08:18,120 Speaker 1: There was always this sense that it was the child 139 00:08:18,160 --> 00:08:22,160 Speaker 1: would never know anything. It was cloaked in secrecy. Parents 140 00:08:22,240 --> 00:08:29,760 Speaker 1: who underwent any kind of UM donor you know, uh 141 00:08:30,480 --> 00:08:34,439 Speaker 1: donor procedure would be told go home, never tell anyone, 142 00:08:34,480 --> 00:08:36,840 Speaker 1: don't tell your own parents, don't tell your siblings, don't 143 00:08:36,840 --> 00:08:40,000 Speaker 1: tell your friends. The child will never know. It's better 144 00:08:40,080 --> 00:08:43,319 Speaker 1: for everyone that way, and there was every reason to 145 00:08:43,360 --> 00:08:46,200 Speaker 1: believe that would be the case. No one at the 146 00:08:46,240 --> 00:08:49,880 Speaker 1: time could have imagined that fifty years later, finding out 147 00:08:49,960 --> 00:08:52,480 Speaker 1: the truth would be as easy as sending your spit 148 00:08:52,559 --> 00:08:55,280 Speaker 1: to a lab and getting the results in a matter 149 00:08:55,400 --> 00:09:00,120 Speaker 1: of weeks. Once Danny found out her shocking results, it 150 00:09:00,160 --> 00:09:03,160 Speaker 1: took her only thirty six hours of googling before she 151 00:09:03,280 --> 00:09:06,600 Speaker 1: was looking at YouTube videos of the man who was 152 00:09:06,760 --> 00:09:10,520 Speaker 1: her biological father. It will stand, I think forever is 153 00:09:10,559 --> 00:09:14,840 Speaker 1: the most surreal moment of my life. Um, the first 154 00:09:15,120 --> 00:09:18,360 Speaker 1: so he's he's a retired physician and a medical ethicist, 155 00:09:19,480 --> 00:09:24,520 Speaker 1: which of course is another bizarre chapter. I mean, you 156 00:09:24,559 --> 00:09:27,040 Speaker 1: can't make can I curse on this? You can't make 157 00:09:27,040 --> 00:09:29,720 Speaker 1: this ship up? You can't. I mean we already said 158 00:09:29,720 --> 00:09:33,959 Speaker 1: holy ship, So why not a few more excell um? 159 00:09:34,000 --> 00:09:36,720 Speaker 1: And he he lectures. He lives in the Pacific Northwest, 160 00:09:36,720 --> 00:09:40,400 Speaker 1: and he lectures quite often, and so on this YouTube 161 00:09:40,480 --> 00:09:44,120 Speaker 1: video he was giving a lecture on medical ethics. And 162 00:09:45,400 --> 00:09:50,840 Speaker 1: what I noticed, and I notice is too subtle a 163 00:09:50,880 --> 00:09:53,280 Speaker 1: word for what I sort of it's kind of like 164 00:09:53,360 --> 00:09:56,480 Speaker 1: went into my blood stream, was that the way that 165 00:09:56,520 --> 00:09:59,839 Speaker 1: he was gesturing with his hands, um, is how I 166 00:10:00,080 --> 00:10:02,120 Speaker 1: ester with my hands. I'm doing it right now. It's 167 00:10:02,160 --> 00:10:05,360 Speaker 1: how I speak when i'm speaking, especially when I'm speaking 168 00:10:05,400 --> 00:10:09,000 Speaker 1: in public. And it was also extremely familiar to me. 169 00:10:09,120 --> 00:10:11,760 Speaker 1: I lecture a lot, I stand behind lecterns, I run 170 00:10:11,760 --> 00:10:14,200 Speaker 1: a Q and A. He was standing behind a lectern. 171 00:10:14,280 --> 00:10:16,280 Speaker 1: He was running a Q and A, and I do 172 00:10:16,400 --> 00:10:18,760 Speaker 1: look very very much like him. But that's not what 173 00:10:18,800 --> 00:10:22,280 Speaker 1: I was noticing. I wasn't seeing myself in this seventy 174 00:10:22,320 --> 00:10:24,880 Speaker 1: eight year old man, but I was seeing a quality 175 00:10:25,000 --> 00:10:29,120 Speaker 1: of familiarity that I realized I had never seen before 176 00:10:29,160 --> 00:10:33,440 Speaker 1: in my life. I mean, there was no question that 177 00:10:33,559 --> 00:10:36,200 Speaker 1: this was that I came from him, and yet he 178 00:10:36,240 --> 00:10:41,000 Speaker 1: was a complete stranger. So do you remember emotionally it 179 00:10:41,080 --> 00:10:44,440 Speaker 1: must have been so complicated what you were experiencing as 180 00:10:44,480 --> 00:10:48,400 Speaker 1: you watched him. Take us back to that moment. I 181 00:10:48,440 --> 00:10:51,840 Speaker 1: was shaking from head to toe. Um, I felt ice cold. 182 00:10:52,720 --> 00:10:55,640 Speaker 1: Um the room. I was in a hotel room in 183 00:10:55,679 --> 00:10:59,599 Speaker 1: San Francisco, and the room felt like it was tilting in, 184 00:10:59,720 --> 00:11:05,240 Speaker 1: like literally the ground was shifting. Um. I remember the 185 00:11:05,280 --> 00:11:08,319 Speaker 1: feeling of walking into the bathroom for the first time 186 00:11:08,400 --> 00:11:10,200 Speaker 1: after I had seen his face, and looking at my 187 00:11:10,240 --> 00:11:13,880 Speaker 1: face in the mirror and suddenly seeing my face, the 188 00:11:13,920 --> 00:11:17,000 Speaker 1: face that I had been looking for all those years 189 00:11:17,040 --> 00:11:19,920 Speaker 1: as a little girl, always having the sense that there 190 00:11:19,960 --> 00:11:22,920 Speaker 1: was something I wasn't seeing. I saw it there. It 191 00:11:23,120 --> 00:11:30,719 Speaker 1: was um. It wasn't comforting, it was um deeply disturbing. 192 00:11:30,880 --> 00:11:33,720 Speaker 1: I mean, I walked around in a state of um 193 00:11:33,880 --> 00:11:40,920 Speaker 1: kind of dizziness and breathlessness for weeks. I would say, 194 00:11:41,000 --> 00:11:45,320 Speaker 1: I mean the roots of my family tree that I 195 00:11:45,360 --> 00:11:49,160 Speaker 1: had understood and that I've been confident about. I mean 196 00:11:49,440 --> 00:11:51,800 Speaker 1: confident in the sense that we don't we don't think 197 00:11:51,800 --> 00:11:54,600 Speaker 1: about what you know, we we we are who we are, 198 00:11:54,679 --> 00:11:57,120 Speaker 1: we're told we come from who we come from, if 199 00:11:57,160 --> 00:11:59,840 Speaker 1: we are, and and then that's that, and we just, 200 00:12:00,080 --> 00:12:03,200 Speaker 1: you know, never really consider it ever again. And suddenly 201 00:12:03,240 --> 00:12:08,080 Speaker 1: now there was this whole new world, There was this 202 00:12:08,120 --> 00:12:11,720 Speaker 1: whole new story, and this was this was within me. 203 00:12:11,880 --> 00:12:16,800 Speaker 1: I was the story. Danny wanted to meet her biological father, 204 00:12:17,400 --> 00:12:20,440 Speaker 1: but she had to convince them. It was a delicate 205 00:12:20,559 --> 00:12:26,200 Speaker 1: dance to get there. And I think ultimately one of 206 00:12:26,240 --> 00:12:28,360 Speaker 1: the ways that we got there is that we were 207 00:12:28,400 --> 00:12:32,280 Speaker 1: each respectful of each other. I was persistent, but I 208 00:12:32,360 --> 00:12:37,480 Speaker 1: was also very respectful, very conscious that I sensed he 209 00:12:37,520 --> 00:12:40,440 Speaker 1: was concerned about his privacy. I think he worried that 210 00:12:40,480 --> 00:12:43,600 Speaker 1: if there was me, there might be twenty others behind me. 211 00:12:44,360 --> 00:12:49,760 Speaker 1: So my biological father, again a medical ethicist, had given 212 00:12:50,040 --> 00:12:52,240 Speaker 1: I think a great deal of thought to this after 213 00:12:52,840 --> 00:12:56,960 Speaker 1: he realized that he had a biological child in the world. 214 00:12:57,200 --> 00:12:59,080 Speaker 1: He had never told his wife a fifty years that 215 00:12:59,120 --> 00:13:02,480 Speaker 1: he had been a donor. It was insignificant, you know, 216 00:13:02,520 --> 00:13:06,200 Speaker 1: it was. It just hadn't needed some money, needed extra money, 217 00:13:06,200 --> 00:13:09,120 Speaker 1: and you know, there's the added bonus of I'm doing 218 00:13:09,400 --> 00:13:12,160 Speaker 1: I'm doing a good thing, I'm helping a family. But 219 00:13:12,720 --> 00:13:15,480 Speaker 1: it was promoted as kind of it's not a bigger 220 00:13:15,520 --> 00:13:18,120 Speaker 1: deal than giving blood basically, which we of course know 221 00:13:18,520 --> 00:13:22,360 Speaker 1: it's very, very different. So he did agree to meet 222 00:13:22,360 --> 00:13:26,240 Speaker 1: me after a bit of a back and forth, and 223 00:13:27,480 --> 00:13:30,480 Speaker 1: we met for lunch at a restaurant in New Jersey. 224 00:13:30,800 --> 00:13:33,760 Speaker 1: He and his wife were traveling east and my husband 225 00:13:33,800 --> 00:13:36,040 Speaker 1: and I. So he did tell his wife he had 226 00:13:36,120 --> 00:13:39,640 Speaker 1: he told me. He told his wife instantly after getting 227 00:13:39,679 --> 00:13:43,480 Speaker 1: the email, and he also told his kids. It's they 228 00:13:43,679 --> 00:13:46,360 Speaker 1: they have a really lovely, very open family where there 229 00:13:46,360 --> 00:13:49,200 Speaker 1: aren't a lot of secrets, and they you know, had 230 00:13:49,200 --> 00:13:53,800 Speaker 1: a family meeting and talked about it. So we went, 231 00:13:54,080 --> 00:13:56,160 Speaker 1: we went to lunch, and we had this four and 232 00:13:56,200 --> 00:13:59,880 Speaker 1: a half hour lunch sitting in this darkening restaurant in 233 00:14:00,000 --> 00:14:04,160 Speaker 1: New Jersey. UM, and I think the biggest takeaway, I mean, 234 00:14:04,160 --> 00:14:07,480 Speaker 1: I had many takeaways. It was again surreal to see 235 00:14:07,640 --> 00:14:11,280 Speaker 1: yourself in a stranger. UM. We see ourselves and the 236 00:14:11,320 --> 00:14:13,880 Speaker 1: parents who raise us all the time, but we take 237 00:14:13,880 --> 00:14:16,440 Speaker 1: it for granted. And suddenly there's this person who I 238 00:14:16,520 --> 00:14:22,080 Speaker 1: don't know, but I'm seeing absolutely like gestures and traits 239 00:14:22,160 --> 00:14:25,000 Speaker 1: and I'm seeing where I come from. But the biggest 240 00:14:25,040 --> 00:14:28,920 Speaker 1: takeaway was afterwards, and it was in the days afterwards. 241 00:14:29,520 --> 00:14:33,320 Speaker 1: It was the first time that I started to feel 242 00:14:34,440 --> 00:14:39,280 Speaker 1: reconnected with my dad. I started to feel like, no, 243 00:14:39,480 --> 00:14:41,280 Speaker 1: this man that I just had lunch with, he's not 244 00:14:41,400 --> 00:14:45,120 Speaker 1: my dad, he's not my father. I do come from him. 245 00:14:45,200 --> 00:14:48,040 Speaker 1: The language that came to me afterwards was It's like, 246 00:14:48,080 --> 00:14:50,400 Speaker 1: he's the country that I'm from. And I've never set 247 00:14:50,440 --> 00:14:53,280 Speaker 1: foot in that country, and I haven't climbed its mountains, 248 00:14:53,280 --> 00:14:55,480 Speaker 1: and I haven't eaten its food, and I haven't breathed 249 00:14:55,520 --> 00:14:59,280 Speaker 1: its air. But it's my country and I come from it, 250 00:14:59,760 --> 00:15:03,360 Speaker 1: and and the people who we love and my father 251 00:15:04,000 --> 00:15:06,880 Speaker 1: loved me into being my father. I think about every 252 00:15:06,960 --> 00:15:08,720 Speaker 1: day my father. As I'm talking to you, I have 253 00:15:09,200 --> 00:15:12,200 Speaker 1: chills up and down my arms that I've decided means 254 00:15:12,240 --> 00:15:16,760 Speaker 1: that he's up there listening. Um, it's a profound soul connection. 255 00:15:17,800 --> 00:15:21,800 Speaker 1: But I actually needed to meet the man that I 256 00:15:22,000 --> 00:15:26,080 Speaker 1: come from genetically and biologically to have that feeling, to 257 00:15:26,240 --> 00:15:30,840 Speaker 1: return to that feeling when we come back. How One 258 00:15:30,920 --> 00:15:34,320 Speaker 1: woman turned her own d n A surprise into an 259 00:15:34,320 --> 00:15:39,160 Speaker 1: expansive support network for others who were shocked by their results. 260 00:15:55,280 --> 00:15:58,960 Speaker 1: In two thousand seventeen, Catherine St. Clair also decided on 261 00:15:59,000 --> 00:16:01,800 Speaker 1: a whim to take a d n A test. She 262 00:16:02,000 --> 00:16:04,520 Speaker 1: was at work when she checked her results and was 263 00:16:04,560 --> 00:16:08,360 Speaker 1: shocked to find out her brother was in fact only 264 00:16:08,440 --> 00:16:11,400 Speaker 1: her half sibling. I put my head down on the desk, 265 00:16:11,800 --> 00:16:14,360 Speaker 1: and the emotional part of me was going, oh my god, 266 00:16:14,400 --> 00:16:15,640 Speaker 1: oh my god, Oh my god, oh my god, oh 267 00:16:15,640 --> 00:16:18,040 Speaker 1: my god. And the logical part of me was trying 268 00:16:18,040 --> 00:16:20,720 Speaker 1: to calm myself down, saying, you're still the same person. 269 00:16:21,320 --> 00:16:23,240 Speaker 1: Nothing has changed. You're the same person you were when 270 00:16:23,240 --> 00:16:25,400 Speaker 1: you woke up this morning. This is just new information. 271 00:16:25,880 --> 00:16:30,720 Speaker 1: You're okay, Um, But but the emotional part of me 272 00:16:30,800 --> 00:16:35,280 Speaker 1: was totally freaking out. Within weeks, Catherine created a discreet 273 00:16:35,440 --> 00:16:39,040 Speaker 1: and vite only Facebook group called d n A NPE 274 00:16:39,280 --> 00:16:44,920 Speaker 1: Friends NPE meaning not parent expected. When I first created 275 00:16:44,960 --> 00:16:49,720 Speaker 1: this group, I was expecting that I would probably find 276 00:16:49,760 --> 00:16:52,240 Speaker 1: four or five more people like me and we could 277 00:16:52,280 --> 00:16:55,360 Speaker 1: help each other. And I set a lofty goal. Wouldn't 278 00:16:55,360 --> 00:16:57,400 Speaker 1: it be wonderful if we could find as many as twelve? 279 00:16:58,760 --> 00:17:02,600 Speaker 1: I had no idea how normal this was. I felt 280 00:17:02,640 --> 00:17:04,840 Speaker 1: like a freak. I felt like I was going to 281 00:17:04,880 --> 00:17:09,160 Speaker 1: be viewed as a bug, and I hated that feelings. 282 00:17:09,359 --> 00:17:14,000 Speaker 1: But it was actually really comforting to see people coming 283 00:17:14,040 --> 00:17:17,920 Speaker 1: in droves. Our group right now is pushing, and that's 284 00:17:17,960 --> 00:17:22,280 Speaker 1: just for our main group of n P SUM. We 285 00:17:22,359 --> 00:17:25,439 Speaker 1: actually have over a hundred groups. We have a support 286 00:17:25,440 --> 00:17:27,480 Speaker 1: group just for the mothers. We have a support group 287 00:17:27,520 --> 00:17:31,199 Speaker 1: just for the fathers UM. We have regional groups so 288 00:17:31,240 --> 00:17:33,160 Speaker 1: that people can plan to get together and have meet 289 00:17:33,160 --> 00:17:34,840 Speaker 1: and greets, because we found that to be a very 290 00:17:34,880 --> 00:17:39,159 Speaker 1: comforting healing experience to have physical gatherings where everyone can 291 00:17:39,240 --> 00:17:43,399 Speaker 1: hug each other and talk. It's amazing. It's miraculous to 292 00:17:43,440 --> 00:17:46,160 Speaker 1: me the amount of healing that's happening and we're still 293 00:17:46,200 --> 00:17:48,600 Speaker 1: bringing people in, probably about a hundred and fifty two 294 00:17:48,680 --> 00:17:52,560 Speaker 1: hundred a month. When Catherine found out that her biological 295 00:17:52,600 --> 00:17:55,679 Speaker 1: father wasn't the man who raised her, she couldn't believe 296 00:17:55,720 --> 00:17:58,360 Speaker 1: how little the company did to help her in this 297 00:17:58,600 --> 00:18:02,119 Speaker 1: very difficult time. She couldn't even get a representative on 298 00:18:02,160 --> 00:18:05,200 Speaker 1: the phone. The best she could do was message someone 299 00:18:05,200 --> 00:18:08,520 Speaker 1: through her computer using the live chat feature on the 300 00:18:08,560 --> 00:18:11,960 Speaker 1: company's website. When I was doing the chat with this woman, 301 00:18:12,800 --> 00:18:14,560 Speaker 1: it would have been better if it had been a 302 00:18:14,560 --> 00:18:18,240 Speaker 1: phone call. And with that phone call, they said, Okay, 303 00:18:18,280 --> 00:18:21,359 Speaker 1: we're going to send you this packet of information. We 304 00:18:21,960 --> 00:18:23,679 Speaker 1: take this phone number down right now. This is a 305 00:18:23,680 --> 00:18:26,520 Speaker 1: hotline that you can call. Here is a Facebook group 306 00:18:26,560 --> 00:18:29,840 Speaker 1: that you can join where you can get emotional support. UM. 307 00:18:29,920 --> 00:18:35,200 Speaker 1: Here's here's a website that offers links to um mental 308 00:18:35,200 --> 00:18:38,879 Speaker 1: health professionals in your area. UM. I feel like that 309 00:18:38,960 --> 00:18:43,680 Speaker 1: they should have more of an obligation to provide those 310 00:18:43,760 --> 00:18:46,840 Speaker 1: kind of tools and resources to these people. And they're 311 00:18:46,880 --> 00:18:49,639 Speaker 1: about to be even more people like Katherine and Danny. 312 00:18:49,920 --> 00:18:55,040 Speaker 1: Considering the fact that by two this global DNA testing 313 00:18:55,119 --> 00:18:58,840 Speaker 1: market will see as many as one hundred million people, 314 00:18:59,400 --> 00:19:02,000 Speaker 1: that's a three heard of the US population by the way, 315 00:19:02,320 --> 00:19:06,280 Speaker 1: and more people, of course, means big Bucks. In two years, 316 00:19:06,320 --> 00:19:10,400 Speaker 1: revenues are expected to double, topping three hundred and forty 317 00:19:10,640 --> 00:19:17,639 Speaker 1: million dollars. I believe that if an organization is making 318 00:19:17,960 --> 00:19:23,600 Speaker 1: a significant financial profit off of a product that is 319 00:19:24,480 --> 00:19:30,440 Speaker 1: opening up these Pandora's boxes, they should feel an ethical responsibility. Legally, no, 320 00:19:30,600 --> 00:19:35,040 Speaker 1: they don't have illegal responsibility, but ethically they should feel 321 00:19:35,119 --> 00:19:40,920 Speaker 1: a responsibility to provide whatever tools or resources are needed 322 00:19:41,520 --> 00:19:47,520 Speaker 1: to their clients to help them through this. When we 323 00:19:47,600 --> 00:19:50,040 Speaker 1: come back, we'll ask one of those organizations if they 324 00:19:50,119 --> 00:20:06,320 Speaker 1: can and are doing better by their customers. One of 325 00:20:06,359 --> 00:20:09,600 Speaker 1: the biggest players in the at home DNA testing space 326 00:20:10,040 --> 00:20:14,120 Speaker 1: is twenty three and Me. Recently through a genetic testing service, 327 00:20:14,160 --> 00:20:16,800 Speaker 1: twenty three and Me they found out about each other. 328 00:20:16,840 --> 00:20:19,480 Speaker 1: They found each other after they both decided to try 329 00:20:19,840 --> 00:20:22,560 Speaker 1: twenty three and me, and it wouldn't have been possible 330 00:20:22,720 --> 00:20:26,160 Speaker 1: without a DNA test from twenty three and Me. I 331 00:20:26,200 --> 00:20:29,760 Speaker 1: was really curious about all this ancestry hype, so I 332 00:20:29,920 --> 00:20:32,200 Speaker 1: ordered an at home kit from twenty three and Me. 333 00:20:32,880 --> 00:20:37,960 Speaker 1: Spit into a tube okay, kind of pink because of 334 00:20:38,000 --> 00:20:40,879 Speaker 1: my lipstick. I hope that doesn't screw it up, and 335 00:20:40,920 --> 00:20:43,440 Speaker 1: then I sent it off to some strangers in Silicon 336 00:20:43,520 --> 00:20:47,919 Speaker 1: Valley to be analyzed. Okay, I'm ready to seal it 337 00:20:48,040 --> 00:20:51,159 Speaker 1: up and send it off and find out who I 338 00:20:51,240 --> 00:20:58,320 Speaker 1: am and where I came from. So the Ancestry Composition 339 00:20:58,840 --> 00:21:02,439 Speaker 1: Report analyze, this is your d NA UM and then 340 00:21:02,720 --> 00:21:06,600 Speaker 1: we base your results on your genetic similarity to the 341 00:21:06,600 --> 00:21:10,640 Speaker 1: forty five reference populations that we have. That's Julianna Centron, 342 00:21:10,840 --> 00:21:14,200 Speaker 1: a customer care representative at twenty three, and me who 343 00:21:14,240 --> 00:21:20,359 Speaker 1: helped me understand my results, which were not all that surprising. 344 00:21:20,720 --> 00:21:25,359 Speaker 1: I'm basically half Northwestern European, mostly British and Irish with 345 00:21:25,400 --> 00:21:28,920 Speaker 1: a little French and German thrown in, and half Ashkenazi 346 00:21:29,040 --> 00:21:32,480 Speaker 1: jew which makes sense since my dad was Presbyterian but 347 00:21:32,600 --> 00:21:36,159 Speaker 1: my mom was Jewish, but I did learn something about 348 00:21:36,200 --> 00:21:40,199 Speaker 1: the Jewish half. Most people associate this with being a 349 00:21:40,240 --> 00:21:45,200 Speaker 1: religion um but human geneticists have actually found that um 350 00:21:45,320 --> 00:21:50,280 Speaker 1: Askenazi Jews are a genetically similar group, and so because 351 00:21:50,320 --> 00:21:54,480 Speaker 1: they're a close knit population and genetically share long stretches 352 00:21:54,520 --> 00:21:58,840 Speaker 1: of DNA, we're able to actually identify ash Nazi Jewish 353 00:21:58,880 --> 00:22:03,199 Speaker 1: ancestry separate it from other European ancestries UM, you know, 354 00:22:03,280 --> 00:22:07,600 Speaker 1: such as Eastern European or German UM because of those 355 00:22:07,640 --> 00:22:11,879 Speaker 1: distinct genetic markers. But what if I had uncovered a 356 00:22:12,000 --> 00:22:15,800 Speaker 1: huge family secret hiding in my DNA? Could I expect 357 00:22:15,880 --> 00:22:19,560 Speaker 1: any support from twenty three and Me? Julianna says, I'd 358 00:22:19,600 --> 00:22:22,320 Speaker 1: be able to get a trained customer care representative on 359 00:22:22,400 --> 00:22:25,960 Speaker 1: the phone. But more than that, the company launched just 360 00:22:26,160 --> 00:22:29,480 Speaker 1: last year a support page that sounds a lot like 361 00:22:29,560 --> 00:22:32,399 Speaker 1: the one Catherine sank Clair laid out, and it was 362 00:22:32,440 --> 00:22:36,160 Speaker 1: developed to help customers or any of their connections navigate 363 00:22:36,280 --> 00:22:39,119 Speaker 1: these relationships that they learned through twenty three and Me. 364 00:22:39,720 --> 00:22:43,320 Speaker 1: We worked closely with genetic counselors to gain insight into 365 00:22:43,320 --> 00:22:46,000 Speaker 1: what their patients were asking for and needed, and we 366 00:22:46,160 --> 00:22:49,199 Speaker 1: developed this resource UM, you know, for those that are 367 00:22:49,240 --> 00:22:53,320 Speaker 1: looking for more information. It actually links to customer stories 368 00:22:53,760 --> 00:22:56,560 Speaker 1: UM and these are real customers that have learned about 369 00:22:56,680 --> 00:23:00,480 Speaker 1: unexpected relatives. I think it makes it so that, you know, 370 00:23:00,640 --> 00:23:04,120 Speaker 1: customers finding out this type of information don't feel alone 371 00:23:04,200 --> 00:23:07,000 Speaker 1: and realize that there are other people out there that 372 00:23:07,280 --> 00:23:09,040 Speaker 1: you know, are kind of going through the same thing. 373 00:23:09,760 --> 00:23:12,520 Speaker 1: Another thing that we offer, um you know, is additional 374 00:23:12,560 --> 00:23:16,600 Speaker 1: resources within that page, things like better Help and talk Space. 375 00:23:17,080 --> 00:23:20,199 Speaker 1: They're not companies that were affiliated with but we do 376 00:23:20,320 --> 00:23:22,920 Speaker 1: link to them, um you know on our website through 377 00:23:22,960 --> 00:23:28,639 Speaker 1: the report. Connecting customers to professional counseling sites like better 378 00:23:28,680 --> 00:23:31,560 Speaker 1: Help and talk Space seems like a step in the 379 00:23:31,640 --> 00:23:35,320 Speaker 1: right direction, especially when some studies estimate as many as 380 00:23:35,400 --> 00:23:38,840 Speaker 1: ten percent of people who take at home DNA tests 381 00:23:39,040 --> 00:23:43,480 Speaker 1: will find out a parent isn't their biological parent. That 382 00:23:43,520 --> 00:23:46,159 Speaker 1: means millions of families are about to come face to 383 00:23:46,280 --> 00:23:52,200 Speaker 1: face with some difficult truths, but for many, learning those 384 00:23:52,240 --> 00:23:59,159 Speaker 1: truths is still worth the initial trauma. Danny Shapiro, this 385 00:23:59,280 --> 00:24:02,720 Speaker 1: whole experience ants obviously changed you, would you say for 386 00:24:02,760 --> 00:24:10,199 Speaker 1: the better without question. It's the feeling was initially of 387 00:24:10,400 --> 00:24:14,040 Speaker 1: I don't know how to withstand this. Um. I just 388 00:24:14,119 --> 00:24:17,119 Speaker 1: felt like who am I? Who am I? I'm not 389 00:24:17,160 --> 00:24:21,719 Speaker 1: who I thought I was, And it moved over time 390 00:24:23,119 --> 00:24:29,080 Speaker 1: to this place that was one of great liberation because 391 00:24:29,560 --> 00:24:32,719 Speaker 1: the truth had been withheld from me and I had 392 00:24:32,800 --> 00:24:34,720 Speaker 1: sensed that. I think it's what made me a writer. 393 00:24:35,280 --> 00:24:39,040 Speaker 1: I think, whether my novels or my memoirs, all my 394 00:24:39,119 --> 00:24:42,480 Speaker 1: novels thematically were in one way or another about family secrets. 395 00:24:42,880 --> 00:24:45,840 Speaker 1: They all were about the corrosive power of them. Why 396 00:24:46,000 --> 00:24:48,720 Speaker 1: was I writing about this? I didn't know. It just 397 00:24:49,240 --> 00:24:52,159 Speaker 1: was kind of territory. I kept returning to. It's like 398 00:24:52,200 --> 00:24:54,760 Speaker 1: my superpower almost. That's what it feels like to me. Now. 399 00:24:54,800 --> 00:24:59,600 Speaker 1: It's really made me quite fearless in the world, and 400 00:24:59,640 --> 00:25:10,600 Speaker 1: it's all so given me a sense of purpose. If 401 00:25:10,640 --> 00:25:13,840 Speaker 1: you've found some shocking news from an at home DNA 402 00:25:14,000 --> 00:25:17,200 Speaker 1: test and you're looking for support, check out Catherine Saint 403 00:25:17,240 --> 00:25:21,400 Speaker 1: Clair's foundation mpe Fellowship dot org. You can also listen 404 00:25:21,440 --> 00:25:25,920 Speaker 1: to Danny Shapiro's podcast Family Secrets, which just launched its 405 00:25:26,000 --> 00:25:28,800 Speaker 1: third season. Do you hear how others have dealt with 406 00:25:28,840 --> 00:25:34,160 Speaker 1: the trauma and power of their own revelations? It's really riveting. 407 00:25:39,840 --> 00:25:43,120 Speaker 1: And that does it for this week's edition of Next Question. 408 00:25:43,440 --> 00:25:46,400 Speaker 1: Keep up with all of our episodes on Apple podcast, 409 00:25:46,520 --> 00:25:50,200 Speaker 1: the I Heart Radio app, and please subscribe wherever you 410 00:25:50,320 --> 00:25:53,200 Speaker 1: listen to podcasts. Meanwhile, if you're looking for a little 411 00:25:53,240 --> 00:25:56,080 Speaker 1: news guidance, you can get my morning newsletter wake Up 412 00:25:56,080 --> 00:25:59,560 Speaker 1: Call every morning in your inbox. Just go to Katie 413 00:25:59,600 --> 00:26:02,439 Speaker 1: Couric dot com and sign up and of course you 414 00:26:02,480 --> 00:26:05,920 Speaker 1: can find me all over Instagram, Twitter, Facebook and other 415 00:26:06,080 --> 00:26:09,960 Speaker 1: social media platforms. Until next time and my Next Question, 416 00:26:10,240 --> 00:26:15,560 Speaker 1: I'm Katie Currik. Next Question with Katie Kurik is the 417 00:26:15,600 --> 00:26:18,760 Speaker 1: production of I Heart Radio and Katie curreic Media. The 418 00:26:18,800 --> 00:26:22,200 Speaker 1: executive producers are Katie Currik, Courtney Litz, and Tyler Klang. 419 00:26:22,480 --> 00:26:26,240 Speaker 1: The supervising producer is Lauren Hansen. Our show producer is 420 00:26:26,320 --> 00:26:31,320 Speaker 1: Bethan Macaluso. The associate producers are Emily Pinto and Derek Clements. 421 00:26:31,960 --> 00:26:36,560 Speaker 1: Editing by Derrek Clements, Dylan Fagin and Lowell Berlante, mixing 422 00:26:36,640 --> 00:26:41,280 Speaker 1: by Dylan Fagan. Our researcher is Gabriel Loser. For more 423 00:26:41,320 --> 00:26:44,560 Speaker 1: information on today's episode, go to Katie Currek dot com 424 00:26:44,600 --> 00:26:47,520 Speaker 1: and follow us on Twitter and Instagram at Katie Kurk. 425 00:26:51,240 --> 00:26:53,560 Speaker 1: For more podcasts for My Heart Radio, visit the I 426 00:26:53,680 --> 00:26:56,720 Speaker 1: Heart Radio app, Apple Podcast, or wherever you listen to 427 00:26:56,760 --> 00:26:57,600 Speaker 1: your favorite shows.