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Switched at Birth, Women Meet at Age 56

AP
posted: 12 HOURS 30 MINUTES AGO
comments: 336
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HEPPNER, Ore. (May 11) - On a spring day in 1953, two babies were born at Pioneer Memorial Hospital in the Eastern Oregon town of Heppner — DeeAnn Angell of Fossil and Kay Rene Reed of Condon. The girls would grow up, get married, have kids of their own and become grandparents.
Then, last summer, Kay Rene's brother, Bobby Reed, got a call from an 86-year-old woman who had known his mother and had also lived next door to the Angell family in Fossil.
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"She said she had something she had to get off her chest," Bobby Reed said in an interview with the East Oregonian newspaper of Pendleton, which reported the story Sunday.
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Bobby met the woman at the nursing home where she lives. The woman said Marjorie Angell insisted back in 1953 that she had been given the wrong baby after the nurses returned from bathing them. Her concerns, however, were brushed off.
Then the old lady showed Bobby an old photo.
"It looked like Kay Rene in about 7th or 8th grade," Bobby said.
But it was DeeAnn Angell's sister.
"Kay Rene is not a Reed," the woman insisted. "DeeAnn is a Reed."
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Bobby, obviously stunned, didn't know what to do with the information. He didn't want to hurt anyone; he didn't want anything to change.
He finally decided to tell his two oldest sisters, and one of them told Kay Rene.
With both sets of parents dead, the Reed and Angell siblings compared notes and family stories, learning that rumors of a mix-up had been around for years. In early February, DeeAnn got a call from her sister, Juanita. "Do you remember those rumors of being switched at birth?" Juanita asked, and went on to provide the update.
"Does this mean I'm not invited to the family reunion?" DeeAnn joked.
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Kay Rene, meanwhile, needed to learn the truth. Kay Rene, Bobby and their sister Dorothy met DeeAnn at a Kennewick, Wash., clinic last month. The doctor said Kay Rene's and DeeAnn's DNA would be compared with that of Bobby and Dorothy to determine the probability of a relation.
A week later, Kay Rene got the results at work. She went to her car to open the envelope in privacy. Her likely probability of being related to her brother and sister? Zero.
"I cried," she said. "I wanted to be a Reed — my life wasn't my life."
DeeAnn's report said she had 99.9 percent of being related to Bobby and Dorothy.
DeeAnn, who now lives in Richland, Wash., told the newspaper that the report only confirmed what she knew after meeting Kay Rene.
"After seeing Kay Rene, I went home and told my husband, I don't know why she's doing the DNA testing," she said. "I was shocked — she looked just like my sister's twin."
Pioneer Memorial Hospital offered to pay for counseling, but both women declined.
The two have become friends and celebrated their latest birthday together earlier this month. Recently, Kay Rene Qualls introduced DeeAnn Shafer to her work colleagues, calling her "my swister."
"I'm trying to move forward at look at the positive," DeeAnn said. "I love my kids. I love my husband. I love my life."
She paused. "You can't look back. It just drives you crazy."
Copyright 2009 The Associated Press. The information contained in the AP news report may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or otherwise distributed without the prior written authority of The Associated Press. Active hyperlinks have been inserted by AOL.
2009-05-11 16:03:49
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Oldwoodencross2

09:45 PMMay 13 2009

I dont care about this at all

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Irish72690

09:07 PMMay 13 2009

i am a white anglo saxon and finally questioned my father,ling chow,about the possibility i was switched at birth.

AVG RATING:
(2)

Metam6

08:22 PMMay 13 2009

this story bores me too lets move on to the nest one shall we?

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Metam6

08:21 PMMay 13 2009

my cousin like a little mary jane before she goes to work in the brox hospital.. some nights they have a little fun and switch em up a little

AVG RATING:
(1)

Metam6

08:18 PMMay 13 2009

tell me does that kid with a scar live in NC? if so.. my son sheldon goes to school with him .. thats on scary lookin kid you got there you should have used the settlement money for plastic surgery

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Metam6

08:15 PMMay 13 2009

oh boy please call schwartz stein and berger in NYC we are on the net and in the book.. there is a lot of sheckels to be made here

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(2)

Houseosims

08:13 PMMay 13 2009

The sad thing is that both women's birth parents are dead so neither has the opportunity to get to know them as parents.

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(4)

JHBtarheel

08:10 PMMay 13 2009

i knew my baby from all the rest - his face was cut during my c-section.

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(1)

MallFontes18

08:01 PMMay 13 2009

Tmsandrew writes ****I know that this woman is upset, but when she says her life isn't her life anymore I think she's being a little dramatic. Does that mean her past with her siblings is invalidated because someone bitched that they had the wrong baby? Get a grip, dry your tears and get back into the groove of your family life, if anything, you just gained more relatives, stop looking so negatively at this and look at the positives that can come from this. Obviously she'll be suing soon.****I think you need to shut up!!! You don't know what you are talking about and shouldn't judge anyone's reaction on something that you have never been through yourself!!!!!!!!!!!

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MallFontes18

07:48 PMMay 12 2009

To **Metalmom71**, I agree with you. I am sorry that you found out at such a young age, I can't imagine what you've must have gone through?!!? I don't know what's worse, finding out when you're young or old? Either way, it leaves you with confusion, questions and messes with your head. I was an adult when I officially found out that I was adopted. I say "officially" because I had always thought that I was because I didn't look like either one of my parents or my brother. Even though I was an adult when I found out, it still shook my world up. All this time, I had been raised and thought that I was Hispanic but I found out that I am Portuguese and American Indian. I only know unidentifying information about my biological parents. Both my adoptive mother and brother have passed away. After their pasing, I found out that my adoptive father is a liar, cheater, and a perverted piece of sh!t and want nothing to do with him. So I have to disagree with YOU **TAPESTRY6**! If you haven't been th...

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