Lydia Fairchild, an American woman born in 1976, is known for exhibiting chimerism, meaning she has two distinct DNA populations in her body. In 2002, after separating from her children's father, Jamie Townsend, DNA tests surprisingly excluded her as the mother, leading to accusations of fraud and suspicions of a surrogacy scam. A breakthrough came when her lawyer referenced the case of Karen Keegan, another chimeric woman, and presented research from the New England Journal of Medicine. Further DNA analysis, including a cervical smear, confirmed that Fairchild’s children shared DNA matching her and her family, explaining the confusion and proving her maternity despite earlier test results.
npr.org
abcnews.go.comOther examples of chimerism
See also
Further reading
- ABC News: She's Her Own Twin Article on Fairchild
- Kids' DNA Tested, Parent Informed The DNA Is Not A Match Article on Fairchild's case
- The Stranger Within New Scientist Article on Karen Keegan's case
- Genetic Mosaics Discussion on Tetragametic Humans
- DNA Tests Shed Light on 'Hybrid Humans' NPR recording
References
"She's Her Own Twin". ABC News. August 15, 2006. https://abcnews.go.com/Primetime/shes-twin/story?id=2315693 ↩
Yu, Neng; et al. (May 16, 2002). "Disputed Maternity Leading to Identification of Tetragametic Chimerism". New England Journal of Medicine. 346 (20): 1545–1552. doi:10.1056/NEJMoa013452. PMID 12015394. https://doi.org/10.1056%2FNEJMoa013452 ↩
Rowlands, Letitia. "When your unborn twin is your children's mother". Essential Baby. Archived from the original on March 1, 2014. Retrieved February 26, 2014. https://web.archive.org/web/20140301211020/http://www.essentialbaby.com.au/life-style/nutrition-and-wellbeing/when-your-unborn-twin-is-your-childrens-mother-20140203-31woi.html ↩