Genetic testing promises customers insights into ancestry and potential health risks. But for one Durango family, the testing also identified a new family member.
Lindsay Breed, 32, sent her saliva sample to 23andMe, a genomics and biotechnology company, two years ago to learn more about her predisposition to certain health conditions.
About a year later, in September 2018, Breed received a message through 23andMe from Jean Griffin, 62. Griffin reached out to Breed to say she thought she might be Breed’s first cousin based on their DNA test results.
But the three-decades age difference between Griffin and Breed was too great. Breed and her mother, Lori Moss, looked deeper into the DNA match and family ancestry and determined Griffin must be Moss’ half sister.
A phone call settled the question.
“I pretty much knew right away she was related to me, there were so many similarities,” said Moss of Durango.
Griffin and Moss have the same height, shoe size, walk and sense of humor, she said. All qualities they inherited from their father, Clifford Carlson of Durango.
Griffin, Moss and their brother, Gregg Carlson, all clicked and still talk regularly. The three all grew up in the same area despite never knowing each other – Moss and Gregg Carlson in Long Island and Griffin in Connecticut, where she still lives.
“I feel like I hit the jackpot,” Griffin said.
Clifford Carlson, 84, had no idea Griffin had been born as a result of a brief and casual relationship, Moss said. When Moss broke the news to her father, he was stunned, but the next day he called Moss back and asked for Griffin’s phone number.
Griffin and Carlson met for the first time this summer at Durango-La Plata County Airport.
“It felt like an out-of-body experience,” Griffin said.
Griffin knew she had been adopted and requested information about her birth parents 20 years ago through a TV show. But she didn’t keep looking for information because her adoptive parents were still alive. She initially took a genetic test because she was interested in finding out more about her ancestry, but then she found her birth mother. She took the 23andMe test because she was interested in what more she could learn about her family history.
As genetic testing increases in popularity, it’s likely many other families are making similar discoveries all the time. At the beginning of the year, an estimated 26 million people had taken tests through four DNA testing companies, according to MIT Technology Review.
Moss advises those interested in taking a DNA test talk with family members about it.
“Family members should reach out to other family members and say: “I am about to do this. Are you going to be OK? Are you going to be OK if I find some hidden relatives that you didn’t know about?” Moss said.
If test-takers are hopeful about finding relatives, Griffin said they need to be ready for all kinds of outcomes.
“It can be disappointing. ... There is a lot of not-so-good scenarios,” she said.
Griffin said she approached her birth family just hoping to get to know them. She feels she got lucky.
“They have been nothing but wonderful from the word ‘go,’” she said.
Moss said when she first learned about Griffin she tried think about the situation from her sister’s perspective.
“If I was her, I would want to know my biological family, too,” she said.
mshinn@durangoherald.com
