It is probably fair to say that almost all of us love a shocking story, especially when it involves other people finding out about hidden family secrets. That's likely why a recent thread from a man who claims a medical test revealed a shocking secret on Reddit had people totally buzzing.
According to the man(we'll call him OP), he's been happily married to his wife for six years. His wife became ill after the birth of their second child and now needs a kidney transplant. After it was revealed that none of her family members could be a match, OP decided to get tested to see if he could donate, even though spousal matches are generally not likely. OP went through several tests to see if he was a match, but it's safe to say that the results he got weren't what anyone expected!
According to the test results, OP was an 'unusually high' genetic match with his wife.
One of the tests that OP took to determine if he could donate his kidney to his wife was to test their level of genetic similarity. Most married couples — at least those who aren't part of the some royal family where people have been marrying their cousins for centuries — wouldn't typically have a very high match percentage.
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OP and his wife had a match level that suggests that they aren't just a couple in love — they might actually be genetically related.
OP has a reasonable explanation for how this could have happened.
The good news is that the answer isn't that OP was using a family reunion as a place to find a date. Instead, it turns out that OP was adopted as an infant. Because his was a closed adoption, he doesn't have any information about who his biological family is.
Given this new information from his doctor, it may turn out to be the case that one of his in-laws is actually one of his biological parents.
OP is trying to figure out how to move forward.
Should they get more genetic testing and determine if they are half siblings or something else? Should their two children (who seem perfectly healthy) be tested for any genetic conditions that might be more likely for kids with closely related parents? Should OP and his wife have a VERY awkward conversation with one or both of her parents?
Honestly, we're not sure how much more they want to know or what they'll want to share with their children (who might also be cousins). Adding to all the stress, OP's wife still needs to find a donor kidney and undergo a major surgery. That is so much to process for this family!
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The odds of this happening in real life seem incredibly low.
Because Reddit isn't a verified news source, there are of course some people in the comments who doubt this story could even be true. This includes one person who noted, "If this is really true, you need to buy a lottery ticket, because those odds are crazy."
Other commenters were more supportive and though OP should go ahead with the surgery.
"Give her a kidney, get a vasectomy, go to therapy, and take it to the grave. I mean I guess you gotta tell the kids but otherwise who else needs to know (besides Reddit)," one person wrote.
We're not sure what OP will do next, but hopefully he and his wife (and maybe sister or cousin) can find the path that feels right for them.
These stories are based on posts found on Reddit. Reddit is a user-generated social news aggregation, web content rating, and discussion website where registered members submit content to the site and can up- or down-vote the content. The accuracy and authenticity of each story cannot be confirmed by our staff.
