While the test was performed purely for fun, one family made a big discovery: the father was not biologically related to his second child.
A little over a year ago, the Johnson family took on a new challenge: discovering their origins through a DNA test purchased on the 23andMe website. But what was to be a fun experience turned out to be a real nightmare for the family who found out that Vanner was actually not the biological father of their 12-year-old son.
Upon discovering the results, the father of the family did not want to believe it:
“When I looked at the sheet and saw for him ‘mum Donna Johnson’ and ‘unknown father’, I thought, ‘What do you mean by’ unknown father ‘? his father'”, he revealed in an interview for ABC4.
For her part, Donna, the mother of the family, immediately understood that something was wrong. On the results sheet his two sons were listed as half-brothers.
Very affected by this discovery, the parents quickly sought an explanation, but the couple did not expect this discovery.
“It’s so rare”
In 2007, the Johnsons decided to expand the family, unfortunately the couple encountered some difficulties in conceiving their second child. They then resorted to IVF (in vitro fertilization), which happens to be the source of the problem. Indeed, it seems that the spermatozoa which were used to fertilize Donna’s oocyte are not those of Vanner.
“We know it’s a possibility, but it’s so rare”, he confided
A year later, Donna and Vanner decided to break the news to their son and then began researching to find out the name of their son’s biological father and meet him. After a shocking announcement, they together chose to sue the University of Utah Center for Reproductive Medicine, in which the error occurred.