When a couple bought a DNA testing kit, they just wanted to have a little fun and learn more about themselves.
But when Donna and Vanner Johnson from Utah received the results, everything they thought they already knew about themselves turned out to be a lie.
They discovered that their 12-year-old son, who had been conceived through IVF treatment, was not Vanner’s biological child due to a mix-up at the clinic.
It turned out that Donna’s egg cell was fertilized with another man’s sperm.
Donna said she noticed something was wrong when the results showed that their oldest child was only a half-sibling to his younger brother.
In an interview with ABC4.com, Donna and Vanner how they were left devastated by the DNA results.
“When I looked on that page and saw mum for him and father unknown, I thought ‘what do you mean father unknown?’” Vanner recalled. “I am his father.”
He then went on: “There were a lot of emotions we had to work through including separating the love of our son which has not changed.
“This mistake that happened, how could it happen, why did it happen and what do we do now.”
The clinic where they received their IVF treatment has since confirmed that Donna’s egg was fertilized with a stranger’s sperm.
The couple then tracked down their son’s biological father who had visited the clinic on the same day as them.
Both couples are now considering taking legal action against the clinic.
“It’s grossly inadequate what we are dealing with,” Vanner said.
“And as we got going through that process… I thought because of what we are dealing with, it would be treated differently or more gingerly and it’s not at all.”
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