Oregon babies switched at birth meet 56 years laterHEPPNER, Ore. ? On a spring day in 1953, two baby girls were born at Pioneer Memorial Hospital in eastern Oregon. They grew up happily, got married, had kids of their own and became grandparents. Then last summer their lives were turned upside down.
Kay Rene Reed Qualls found out that she and DeeAnn Angell Shafer were switched at birth.
They recently met for the first time and underwent DNA tests after a woman who knew both their mothers called Qualls\' brother with her suspicion.
Qualls\' brother, Bobby Reed, said the 86-year-old woman knew his mother and had also lived next door to the Angell family.
"She said she had something she had to get off her chest," he told the East Oregonian newspaper in a story published Monday.
The woman, whom he declined to identify by name, told him that his mother, Marjorie Angell, had insisted back in 1953 she had been given the wrong baby after the nurses returned from bathing the two newborns, but her concerns were brushed off.
The woman showed Bobby Reed a photo.
"It looked like Kay Rene in about 7th or 8th grade," he said.
But it wasn\'t. It was DeeAnn Shafer\'s sister.
"Kay Rene is not a Reed," the woman insisted. "DeeAnn is a Reed."
Bobby Reed was stunned, learning later that rumors of a mix-up had been around for years. In early February, Shafer learned the truth in a telephone call from her sister, Juanita.
"Do you remember those rumors of being switched at birth?" she asked, and went on to provide the update.
"Does this mean I\'m not invited to the family reunion?" Shafer joked.
Qualls, Bobby Reed and one of their sisters met Shafer at a Kennewick, Wash., clinic last month for DNA testing. A week later, Qualls got the results, learning her likely probability of being related to her brother and sister was zero.
"I cried," she said. "I wanted to be a Reed ? my life wasn\'t my life."
Shafer\'s DNA report said she had 99.9 percent of being related to Bobby and Dorothy Reed. Now living in Richland, Wash., Shafer said the report only confirmed what she knew after meeting Qualls.
"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 May 3 birthday together. Recently, Qualls introduced Shafer to her work colleagues, calling her "my swister."
"I\'m trying to move forward at look at the positive," Shafer said. "You can\'t look back. It just drives you crazy."
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Switched At BirthDon\'t be afraid to admit that your mother did not want you and tried her damnedest to trade you on the lot, cash or trade, but there were no takers.
Life goes on...
This must of been a mind
**** but when you think about it, both of them turned out all right so maybe your mother was doing what was best for you.
She never loved you anyways.
Why did it take this woman 56 years to finally realize that she needed to get this off her chest... Someone should smack her too...
Maybe that\'s what happened to me... that would explain SO much.
Maybe that\'s what happened to me... that would explain SO much.
You definitely could be.
Have begun the legal process of forcing my parents to prove that I was not switched.
Maybe that\'s what happened to me... that would explain SO much.
You definitely could be.
Have begun the legal process of forcing my parents to prove that I was not switched.
i dont think i was switched at birth..i just think i was left on the front doorstep in a basket with a note....
Maybe that\'s what happened to me... that would explain SO much.
You definitely could be.
Have begun the legal process of forcing my parents to prove that I was not switched.
i dont think i was switched at birth..i just think i was left on the front doorstep in a basket with a note....
Put that rumor to bed for myself a few years ago. Was thinking kidnapping too but things just didn\'t add up.
Does anything ever add up with you??
Does anything ever add up with you??
Never.
Getting back to the subject. Question your mother.
Hold on, wouldn\'t you notice that you look NOTHING LIKE ANY OF YOUR RELATIVES?
Maybe she had no reason to question that authenticity of her parents.
She has known that from the beginning of her life that those people were her family.
This is amazing mind
****.
Everything you thought you knew you now must question everything.
Maybe that\'s what happened to me... that would explain SO much.
You definitely could be.
Have begun the legal process of forcing my parents to prove that I was not switched.
i dont think i was switched at birth..i just think i was left on the front doorstep in a basket with a note....
Put that rumor to bed for myself a few years ago. Was thinking kidnapping too but things just didn\'t add up.
I thought that also... but i never found myself on a milk carton....
Hold on, wouldn\'t you notice that you look NOTHING LIKE ANY OF YOUR RELATIVES?
i look absolutely NOTHING like my family. They are all blonde hair and blue eyed. And I am brown eyed and well....naturally...dark brown hair....