In her new book, "Inheritance: A Memoir of Genealogy, Paternity, and Love," Genealogy, Paternity, and Love," author Dani Shapiro is speaking for tens of thousands of us who are discovering that we are "NPE." Not Parent Expected.
Dani learned that the man who raised her and who she thought was her father was not so, biologically speaking, thanks to a DNA ancestry test.
My own discovery is so overwhelming that I can't talk about it much, even though my new half-sister has possibly saved my life by adding to my known family's cancer history, affecting a recent medical decision. So thank you Dani. Here's a short version of my story, as many of us face the deluge of new cousins coming in from the holiday wave of DNA tests.
Initially ignored
The first email came September 8, 2018:
"AncestryDNA says we're close family, maybe first cousins. My maiden name is Penny Krause. Sound familiar? I grew up in Brooklyn."
To continue reading go to Genetic Literacy Project, where this post first appeared.