A WOMAN who bought a DNA testing app to delve into her Irish heritage has revealed her shock after finding out her 88-year-old dad had a secret son.
Jeannette, 53, from Yorkshire, just so happened to see an advert on social media for ancestry DNA kits when her husband suggested buying one for “fun.”
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But nothing could’ve prepared Jeannette, whose parents had been together for 50 years, for the “life-changing” results that were about to fall into her lap.
Sitting open-mouthed as she tried to come to terms with what she was seeing, the words in front of her read: “It seems you’re my sister – and your dad is my dad.”
The message had come from a man living in Scotland who had made the shocking revelation – and who was claiming to be her new half-brother.
Speaking on the Real Women’s Stories with Lisa Quait podcast, Jeannette, who had been brought up with one brother and one sister, explained: “No broken marriage, broken family – there’s none of that.
“So we’ve just been like that for 50 odd years – just one little group, one little family.
“So it wasn’t the sort of thing I was expecting.’
Despite being terrified to break the news to her “very anxious” father incase he ended up having a heart attack, she plucked up the courage and bit the bullet.
But while her mother, 87, “didn’t give a hoot about it” because Jeannette’s new half-brother was born before she tied the knot with her father, he was ‘dumbfounded’ by the revelation and stayed up all night trying to remember who he had dated in the Sixties.
Racking his brains for who he had dated in the Sixties, Jeannette gave him the name of her new half-brother’s mum, but he felt “awful” that he didn’t remember it.
Once the initial shock had settled in, Jeannette’s older half-brother and her father, who is one of 22 children, connected over the internet, before then spending their very first Father’s Day together.
The quite unbelievable turn of events is not something Jeannette ever could have imagined when she sent first sent off her DNA sample.
After informing her loved ones that she’d discovered she was 55% Irish, Jeannette put the results to one side and didn’t think much more of it.
It was long, really long. And it ended with: ‘It seems you are my sister – and your dad is my dad’
Jeannette
It was only when, four years later, she was perusing the app that she came across the long message that was about to turn her life as she knew it upside down.
“At first, I thought it was one of those generic messages people send asking about the family tree,” she explained.
“But this one… it was long, really long. And it ended with: ‘It seems you are my sister – and your dad is my dad.'”
After re-reading the message, Jeannette recalled how she “just kept staring at it” and was left speechless, adding: “It was such a shock.”
She eventually shared the DNA results with the one brother and one sister she’d grown up with, who were initially wary that the man who had sent the message was a scam artist.
But their worries were soon put to bed when they discovered he had only asked for one thing – a photo of Jeannette’s father.
He explained how he had no idea who his biological father was until the DNA testing app had flagged a connection, so he’d been eager to find out more.
The new siblings then realised that their parents, who married in October 1970, may well have had other relationships prior to when they met, when their mother was 32 and father was 33.
Within two hours, Jeannette had arrived at her parents’ house to drop the bombshell revelation.
“I explained it was urgent and I needed to speak to them, so what I did was, I ended up saying: ‘Look, nobody’s pregnant, nobody is in trouble, nobody’s sick, nobody’s dying.'”
She told her father what had happened and that the man who had messaged was claiming to be his son.
They spent their first Father’s Day together and my brother got a chance to give him a Father’s Day card for the first time
Jeannette
“I was very nervous to see how they were going to be because I didn’t want to give my dad a heart attack,” she recalled.
“I have no anger or anything, but it helped that my new brother predates my parents’ marriage.”
She continued: “My dad’s a very anxious person. My mother is very laid back.
“I knew she wouldn’t give a hoot about it. She’d be fine, which was true.”
Jeannette recalled how her dad was left “dumbfounded” by the revelation.
“He accepted what I said, throughout…he didn’t disbelieve anybody, but it was questioned: Could that have been a mistake? So it was a shock,” she explained.
DNA Tests: What You Need to Know
HERE’S everything you need to know about DNA tests…
Types of DNA Tests:
Ancestry Testing: Discover your genetic heritage and ancestral origins.
Paternity Testing: Confirm biological relationships.
Health Screening: Identify genetic predispositions to certain health conditions.
Steps to Get a DNA Test:
Determine the Purpose: Establish why you need the test.
Choose a Provider: Select a reputable laboratory or service.
Order the Kit: Purchase the appropriate DNA test kit.
Collect the Sample: Follow instructions to gather a cheek swab or saliva sample.
Send the Sample: Mail the sample to the laboratory using the provided packaging.
Await Results: Wait for a few weeks for the analysis.
Review the Results: Interpret the results and seek professional advice if necessary.
Considerations:
– Privacy: Ensure the provider has robust privacy policies.
– Accuracy: Verify the accuracy rate of the test.
– Cost: Be aware of the total cost, including any hidden fees.
– Support: Look for providers that offer customer support for interpreting results.
After getting to know her new half-brother, Jeannette set up a family WhatsApp group so they could all get to know each other, before eventually arranging to meet face-to-face.
Jeanette, who has had to come to terms with the fact she’s not the oldest sibling like she had always thought, told how the meeting felt totally natural, adding that her father is also “so happy” and has even been to stay with him.
“My mum and dad flew up there to go stay with them for a couple of weeks, and he says, ‘Thank goodness I got a chance to meet my son whilst I was still alive,’ she said.
“They spent their first Father’s Day together and my brother got a chance to give him a Father’s Day card for the first time.
“They’ve got some lovely photos together and it’s just really, really special, really special and we’ve got a good relationship as well. So none of this would have been possible without that test.
“As much as it started as something quite light-hearted, it’s been life-changing.”
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