She Wanted to Learn About Her Dad, Found 29 Siblings

Shauna Harrison got more than she may have expected after turning to 23andMe
By Kate Seamons,  Newser Staff
Posted Apr 5, 2019 8:51 AM CDT
She Wanted to Learn About Her Dad, Found 29 Siblings
   (Getty Images)

When Shauna Harrison was 27, her parents told her more of her origin story: She had been conceived using a sperm donor. What she wouldn't know for another decade-plus is just how many people had the same biological father. KGO reports she turned to 23andMe to see if her DNA could tell her more about that man, and it did: She learned that he lived in the San Francisco Bay Area, was Jewish, and was of Russian descent. That was that until 2017, when Harrison changed the setting on her 23andMe account to public, reports CNN. Right away, the now-41-year-old heard from a half-sibling ... then another, and another.

The "only child" is now currently one of 30 known half-siblings. She's the third oldest; the youngest is 24. Some are incredibly close in age, she says, with two born just shy of three weeks apart, and another two born only two days apart. As for whether the sperm donor is aware of his progeny, Harrison suggests he is. She says a number of the half-siblings have met or spoken with him, and that he expressed that he had hoped to father many kids. (More DNA test stories.)

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