DNA testing used to be something we only saw in movies and TV series, but now it’s much more accessible and considered much more common.
So a father in America decided to take a DNA test “for fun”, however he discovered a heartbreaking truth about his children.
Except that while people may do them ‘for fun’, they’re not always so positive – like for this dad, who ended up discovering a heartbreaking truth about his ‘son’.
Donna Johnson and her husband Vanner decided to take a DNA test with their two sons, Vanner Jr, 18, and Tim, 12, because they wanted to learn more about their ancestry.
But when they received the results online, the Utah woman told the US Sun newspaper last year that she “thought there had been a mistake”.
While Vanner was the father of their older son, he was not compatible for the younger son, leading the couple to look into the matter a little more.
Due to health issues, the couple chose to use IVF for their second child who was born in 2008.
Even though their two children didn’t look too much alike, the family didn’t pay attention at first.
After the DNA test, however, they discovered with all solemnity that the two children looked different, because they also had a different biological father.
Then the father decided to reveal the truth to his youngest son and tell him that he is not his biological father. So he took 12-year-old Tim for ice cream and opened up to him.
After revealing the truth to him, little Tim said, “Well, you’re still my dad,” with Vanner replying, “Right, and I’ll always be your dad.”
After talking to lawyers and counselors, the couple began the process of finding Tim’s biological father, who turned out to be Devin McNeil.
There had been a mix-up at the IVF clinic, meaning Devin’s sperm sample had ended up being used for Johnson’s IVF.
The two families, after finding out about the children, became very close, pushing for stricter regulations regarding in vitro fertilization.
Donna told KUTV in 2021: “You go and they talk about the risks, and most of the risks are about getting pregnant or not getting pregnant or having hormonal disruptions, but none of them really talk about there could be a mix-up.”
