After 56 Years Truth Revealed About Babies Switched At Birth
One of the greatest fears of any new mom might be the possibility of being given the wrong baby. I don’t have a clue how many moms worry about that today, or what are the possibilities of that happening with all the measures hospital now have in place. In the fifties and sixties however, maybe even later, there was an ever present risk of a mom being given the wrong baby.
The idea of babies being switched at birth has formed the backdrop for countless movies and many soap opera twists, but for two women born on the same day in 1953, the story became all too real recently. According to a news story found online, Kay Rene Reed Qualls and DeeAnn Angell Shafer recently found out that they had been switched 56 years ago.
The babies were born at the Pioneer Memorial Hospital in Oregon. The story claims that after both babies were given a bath, new mom Marjorie had said that the baby returned to her was not her own. Unfortunately the nurses dismissed her fears. The story came to light when the brother of Kay Rene Reed Qualls, Bobby Reed was called by a woman who knew both families.
Reed was quoted in a newspaper interview as saying, “She said she had something she had to get off her chest.” As it turns out, rumors had been floating around for years that the babies were switched, but they only decided on DNA testing after being called by that woman whose identity wasn’t revealed.
Kay Rene Reed Qualls recounted her experience doing the DNA test. She went with Bobby Reed and another sister to a clinic in Kennewick Washington. The results she received a week later showed the possibility of being related to them was zero. She said, “I cried. I wanted to be a Reed, my life wasn’t my life.”
Thankfully both women seem to be trying to turn this into a positive experience. According to the story they have become friends, and recently celebrated their birthday together. Pioneer hospital offered to pay for counseling for the women but neither one was interested.
Shafer perhaps put it best when she said, “I’m trying to move forward and look at the positive. You can’t look back. It just drives you crazy.” I do wish both women the best as they move on after what could have been a devastating revelation. I guess it is a testament to their upbringing that they were able to face this truth and move on with such grace.
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