DNA tests turning up unknown family members
By Molly Sullivan, Sacramento Bee
When Jaclyn Baxter spit into her 23andMe DNA kit, she wanted to know if she carried any troublesome genes she could pass on to her infant son, Jack.
The Placerville mother of two worried about his chances of developing Alzheimer’s or Type I Diabetes— diseases ran in her family. Or so she believed. When she got her results, however, they changed everything she thought she knew about herself.
Baxter, 33, knew she was an only child until three months ago, when she discovered a half-brother in her DNA matches. This discovery launched a three-month long journey that revealed three half-siblings and a sperm donor they all had in common. And there could be many more siblings, possibly hundreds. Baxter figured her dad could be her half-brothers’ sperm donor.