A DNA test exposed A FAMILY SECRET

When Carlie McMaster dug into her family's history, she discovered more than she ever expected

- MISHAAL KHAN

Looking at photos of my childhood, me with my mum Andrea and dad Harry, it’s impossible to deny the striking resemblance. In her younger  days, Mum looked a lot like I do now. We’d always looked alike and I’d never really questioned the fact I didn’t look much like the man who’d raised me. It was only after his death that the truth about my conception came out.

When my dad died in 2015, from a heart attack at the age of 65, I was bereft and it got me thinking about my family’s health history. I was 20, and my mum, then 53, and dad had divorced when I was just two years old. Spending every other weekend with Dad, I’d never had the chance to ask questions. ‘It would be interesting to take one of those DNA tests that tell you about your ancestry and health,’ I told my boyfriend at the time.

I didn’t think about it again until 2018, when I got an ancestry DNA kit for Christmas. Swabbing my mouth, I sent off the test and forgot about it until April 2019, when I got an email with the results. It didn’t have the detailed hereditary health information I’d hoped for, and didn’t tell me anything particularly interesting. I was disappointed, but thought I could try a different test in the future.

But in May, another email popped up on my phone. I had a DNA match with a woman called Rylee. The test told us there was a 99.9% chance we were related, maybe through a grandparent, aunt, uncle or half-sibling.