A woman and her husband are shocked after ordering an at-home DNA test that revealed the husband is not their son’s biological father.
Donna and Vanner Johnson jokingly decided to do the DNA test last year as they thought it would be a fun thing to do as a family.
But they didn’t expect the results to turn their lives totally upside down.
Speaking to ABC4, the couple, from Utah, USA, explained how they had conceived their 12-year-old son through IVF.
However, it was only when they received the results from the test that they found out Vanner wasn’t the boy’s biological father.
Recalling the moment he saw the papers, Vanner said:
“When I looked on that page and saw mum for him and father unknown, I thought ‘what do you mean father unknown?’
“I am his father.”
After contacting the clinic where they’d received their IVF treatment, it was confirmed that Donna’s egg had been fertilised with a stranger’s sperm.
The dad continued:
“There were a lot of emotions we had to work through including separating the love of our son which has not changed.
“This mistake that happened, how could it happen, why did it happen and what do we do now.”
While they processed the news, the couple decided not to tell their son straight away.
After one year, the family decided to track down their son’s biological father, who visited the fertility clinic on the same day with his wife.
Describing the awkward phone call, Vanner recalled:
“I say to him… if I understand you are Devin McNeil, your wife is Kelly, both of you did In Vitro a number of years ago.
“He said ‘yes’ and I said ‘well I have something I need to talk to you about.'”
Since making contact with their son’s biological father, Devin and Kelly have travelled from their home in Colorado to Utah to meet the family.
The couples are currently in the process of taking legal action against the clinic.
Vanner added:
“It’s grossly inadequate with that we are dealing with. And as we got going through that process…I thought because of what we are dealing with, it would be treated differently or more gingerly and it’s not at all.”