Woman randomly takes a DNA test gifted by her son — realizes she was swapped at birth 55 years ago

Discovering new things about yourself, your family and your surroundings as you grow older is nothing unusual. There are plenty of things that never come up or are unknown to everyone. However, some rare incidents can leave an entire family questioning their lives. This was the case for two families involved in the first known baby exchange by NHS UK, uncovered more than 50 years later, reports BBC. The surprising discovery was made through a simple DNA test.

It all began when a woman, who had been unknowingly swapped at birth, took a DNA test gifted by her son. She was surprised to discover that she had no genetic link to the region her family came from and was connected to a first cousin she’d never heard of. The results were confusing, yet in some ways, they made sense—she had always felt like she didn’t quite belong. "I felt like an imposter. There were no similarities in looks or traits. I thought, 'Yes – I'm adopted,'" the woman, who has been named Claire for privacy purposes, told the outlet. Soon enough, a full sibling came up on her family tree through a DNA test and unsurprisingly, she knew nothing about him.

A man named Tony reached out to her in 2022 for answers, as she appeared as his full sibling instead of his sister, Jessica (name changed). "Hi, my name's Tony. I've done this DNA test. You've come up as a full sibling. I'm thinking it's a mistake. Can you shed any light on it?" Tony messaged. Eventually, the biological siblings began exchanging details and discovered that Jessica and Claire had been born around the same time in 1967 at the same hospital. The two women had been switched at birth, a case that had never before been reported involving the NHS, according to the outlet. Since the 1980s, newborns have been given radio frequency identification tags immediately after birth to track their location, but before that, paper tags were used.

"The ripples from this will be enormous. If you want to leave it here, then I'll absolutely accept that, and we won't progress this at all," Tony told Claire. However, Claire was sure she wanted to meet her mom and brother and get to know them. On the other hand, Tony's mom, Joan, was quite shocked by the discovery. She recalled planning a home birth but ultimately going to the hospital due to high blood pressure. She saw her daughter briefly before the newborn was taken away so Joan could rest. The next day, she noticed her daughter had fair hair, unlike the rest of the family, but brushed it off in her excitement to have a daughter.

Claire and Joan were elated to meet each other and immediately struck a chord, reported Independent UK. The NHS emphasized that it had never encountered a case of babies being sent home with the wrong parents before. However, after Tony reached out with the details, the organization acknowledged the grave error and promised to consider compensation for the families involved. Claire now calls Joan 'mom,' while Jessica doesn't. However, Joan expressed that she just believes she has one more daughter now and still considers Jessica her own.