Oklahoma
Two women were swapped as babies – and more than 50 years later have to rethink their lives
The exact circumstances under which the women were swapped as newborns can probably no longer be clarified (symbol image)
© Avril Morgan / Shutterstock
When Tina Ennis discovered through a DNA test that she was not related to her mother, it was a shock. She later found her mother’s biological daughter – the story shocks all three women.
How would my life have been if I had grown up in a different family? And how important are the biological parents? These are the questions Tina Ennis and Jill Lopez ask themselves. They found that large parts of their lives were based on a mistake that happened shortly after they were born – they were switched babies. They only noticed this more than 50 years later.
Both were born on May 18, 1964 in a hospital in the US state of Oklahoma. They don’t know exactly what happened there, they can only piece it together. But both womennow 57 years old, have genetic proof: their birth parents are each other’s.
Confusing DNA test results
It all started with a DNA test, reports the US portal “Daily Beast”: Tina Ennis wanted to use the online platform ancestry.com, which specializes in genealogical research, to try to find her grandfather, who had left the family when her mother had been a child. But the family tree the site generated based on her genetic data found no people she knew. Instead, many people turned up with the surname Brister – a name that meant nothing to either her or her mother. Even more surprisingly, her mother’s DNA was not placed in Ennis’ family tree either. A clear sign that the two are not biologically related.
It slowly dawned on Ennis what could have happened – even if she didn’t want to believe this scenario at first. After some searching, her daughter found a local woman online who was born on the same day as Ennis and who resembled her daughter. It was Jill Lopez, daughter of Joyce and John Brister. At least that’s what she thought her whole life.
The search for the biological daughter
Ennis contacted Lopez via Facebook and told her about her suspicions. Lopez also did a DNA test, but didn’t even have to tell Ennis about her results: Ennis’ mother had already received an email that a relative of hers had registered on the platform. “My heart sank,” Tina Ennis told The Daily Beast about that moment in 2019. Her mother had a hard time accepting the truth, but when she saw childhood photos of Jill Lopez – her birth daughter , the thing was clear: “She looked just like me. That got me down.”
All three women now have to completely rethink their lives, even three years after the discovery. Who really belongs to whom? Tina Ennis has always felt comfortable with her family: “I never felt like I didn’t belong.” Still, it saddens her that she never met her biological parents – both are already deceased. Her mother is torn between guilt over the loss of her biological child and fear that her family might break up: “I felt like I was losing my daughter and also my grandchildren.”
Women sue hospital
Jill Lopez has now met her biological mother, but she is also burdened by the situation. “I had to organize my feelings first because it’s a lot to process,” she told The Daily Beast. “She had a mother and I had a mother and now I have another mother.” Everything looks fine from the outside, Ennis summarizes, “but in my opinion that’s something I wouldn’t wish on anyone”.
Lopez, Ennis and the surviving mother have now filed a lawsuit against the hospital for negligence and negligent infliction of mental distress. However, it is unlikely that it can be clarified what really happened back then: all the doctors involved are already dead.
Source: “The Daily Beast”
This article originally appeared on stern.de.