Two US women who lived in the same city all their lives have discovered they're biological sisters and their father is a Kiwi doctor.
Amy Measeles and Emily Sinclair, both 35, were strangers before performing home-testing DNA kits, through 23andMe and Ancestry.com
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Both were unwittingly raised by men who were not their biological fathers, Measeles finding out the truth at age 21.
"When [my mother] told me, it made sense because I always knew, growing up, no way you took my mum and dad and created me. There's always something off," she told Fox 10 Phoenix, a local news organisation.
Measeles' parents kept no records from the procedure, and chose "somebody that looked like they would fit".
"There were no records kept. They didn't imagine people would figure out, so everything was secretive."
When Measeles completed a home-testing DNA kit, Sinclair came up as a match. Measeles says she tracked down and reached out to her newly discovered half-sister.
When Sinclair completed a kit herself she learnt the truth; the pair share the same biological father, a Kiwi man who was a sperm donor for infertile couples.
Fox reports that the New Zealand doctor spent time in the US between 1979 and 1983.
After some research, Sinclair found an email address for the man, reaching out to reveal she knew the truth.
"He said there's no medical history to worry about. He has two sons, but he hasn't told anybody," says Sinclair.
"He was a resident at Good Sam during '79 and '83 when all of us were born. We're all basically 35 from Phoenix. Nobody wants a relationship because that wasn't the purpose. We're still curious."
The siblings are part of the DNA NPE (Not Parent Expected) Facebook group, which is described as a place to "support those who experienced an NPE (not parent expected) from their DNA test results."
"We help each other heal after receiving such traumatic news."
Newshub.
