The mix-up caused serious emotional distress for the two families.
Two women have shared their story of discovering they were switched at birth.
Jill Lopez and Tina Ennis were born on the same day in 1964 and grew up about two hours away from each other, never meeting.
Then, two years ago at the age of 55, they discovered they had been switched at birth in the hospital and raised by the wrong parents.
Tina made the revelation in 2019, when she did an Ancestry.com DNA test to learn more about her family. When she got the results, she didn’t recognise any of the names.
Tina’s mother Kathryn also took the test and got completely different results.
Tina then became suspicious, and starting looking for people who shared her birthday on Facebook. Eventually, she found Jill, who looked just like Kathryn.
Jill Lopez and Tina Ennis were born on the same day in 1964 and grew up about two hours away from one another as total strangers. At the age of 55, they discovered they had been switched when they were babies in the hospital. @tvkatesnow shares their story. pic.twitter.com/8G6PAYbYur
— TODAY (@TODAYshow) March 1, 2022
Speaking to Today, Tina explained how she reached out to Jill, who agreed to do a DNA test and soon discovered Kathryn was her biological mother.
“All I could think about was how I was going to tell my mom,” Tina said. “I just thought she’s not going to be able to handle it.”
When Kathryn did hear the news, she refused to believe it at first, but once she accepted it she was “heartbroken” and “devastated”. She said it felt like “somebody took a hatchet” to her heart.
“She was afraid she was going to lose me,” Tina said. “And she wasn’t going to. I wasn’t going to leave her.”
“I could not lose Tina. She’ll always be my daughter,” Kathryn added. “I have loved her from the second they laid her in my arms.”
Kathryn has since gotten to know her biological daughter a little bit more. Unfortunately, Tina’s biological parents had sadly died before she made the discovery.
Kathryn and Jill are now suing the hospital where they were born, Duncan Physicians and Surgeons Hospital Oklahoma, for its mistake and the emotional distress caused to both families.
