‘Only child’ no more: DNA test reveals woman has at least 29 brothers and sisters

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Jodi Hale, Ben Clark, Shauna Harrison, Jacob Bandes-Storch, Fritz Huizenga, and Joe Mendoza. All are siblings who discovered each other through DNA services like 23andme. Image: Jodi Hale

For Shauna Harrison, her journey from only child to a sister with 29 siblings started with a revisit to her 23andme profile.

Having known for more than a decade she was conceived by sperm donor, she took a test from the DNA service in 2013 to learn more about her family history.

“The next day, I got an email from one of the siblings that said ‘Hey, looks like we’re related. Not sure if that’s a surprise to you,'” Harrison, 41, recently told USA TODAY.

That sibling was Stephen Bisordi, 40, who had started a Facebook group years before with three other siblings so they could all connect. He said he discovered he was a donor child around age 11 or 12, because his father was unable to have kids.

Roughly a month ago, the group had a total of 30.

“It’s definitely become a world of uncertainty,” [sibling Ben] Clark said. “You never know. Are we going to have 40 siblings? Are we going to have 200 siblings by the time this is all done? Will it ever be done, or am I still going to find new people when I’m 90 years old?”

Read full, original post: Woman discovers she has 29 siblings after taking DNA test. And counting

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