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GALS, 56,SWITCHED AS BABIES
By DAN MANGAN
IDENTITY CRISIS: Kay Qualls (left) and DeeAnn Shafer learned in April that they had been switched at birth in a 1953 hospital snafu.
May 12, 2009
A hospital nurse took two newborn girls from their mothers to give them a quick bath 56 years ago -- and changed their lives forever.
In what is every parent's worst nightmare, the babies -- both born bald and weighing in around 6 pounds at the same Washington State hospital on May 3, 1953 -- were accidentally switched when they were returned to their mothers' arms. And the mistake was learned only last month.
"I cried," admitted Kay Reed Qualls upon learning a DNA test confirmed that she wasn't the daughter of Donalda Reed, the now-deceased woman who raised her.
Meanwhile, Qualls' biological mother raised the other woman's daughter, according to the East Oregonian newspaper.
That little girl, DeeAnn Angell Shafer, knew her mom to be the late Marjorie Angell. Both of the switched women's fathers also are deceased.
The emotional story came to light only after an 86-year-old former neighbor of Angell's called Reed Qualls' brother, Bobby, from a nursing home last summer and "said she had something to get off of her chest," Bobby Reed told the paper.
The unidentified woman, who knew both mothers, told Bobby that Marjorie Angell had insisted she was given the wrong baby to take home from the hospital.
The new mom had even tried arguing with the nurses at the hospital at the time, to no avail, the paper said.
Donalda Reed wasn't aware of the dispute, having been heavily medicated when the babies were bathed and returned, the paper said.
Bobby eventually told his "sister," Kay, and they contacted DeeAnn. The three of them and another Reed sister underwent DNA testing and learned the unimaginable.
Kay and DeeAnn, who both are married, said that thankfully, they each grew up in loving families.
Still, "my whole life would have been different," Kay mused.
Added DeeAnn, "I'm trying to move forward, to look at the positive. I love my kids. I love my husband. I love my life.
"You can't look back. It just drives you crazy."
[email protected]
By DAN MANGAN
IDENTITY CRISIS: Kay Qualls (left) and DeeAnn Shafer learned in April that they had been switched at birth in a 1953 hospital snafu.
May 12, 2009
A hospital nurse took two newborn girls from their mothers to give them a quick bath 56 years ago -- and changed their lives forever.
In what is every parent's worst nightmare, the babies -- both born bald and weighing in around 6 pounds at the same Washington State hospital on May 3, 1953 -- were accidentally switched when they were returned to their mothers' arms. And the mistake was learned only last month.
"I cried," admitted Kay Reed Qualls upon learning a DNA test confirmed that she wasn't the daughter of Donalda Reed, the now-deceased woman who raised her.
Meanwhile, Qualls' biological mother raised the other woman's daughter, according to the East Oregonian newspaper.
That little girl, DeeAnn Angell Shafer, knew her mom to be the late Marjorie Angell. Both of the switched women's fathers also are deceased.
The emotional story came to light only after an 86-year-old former neighbor of Angell's called Reed Qualls' brother, Bobby, from a nursing home last summer and "said she had something to get off of her chest," Bobby Reed told the paper.
The unidentified woman, who knew both mothers, told Bobby that Marjorie Angell had insisted she was given the wrong baby to take home from the hospital.
The new mom had even tried arguing with the nurses at the hospital at the time, to no avail, the paper said.
Donalda Reed wasn't aware of the dispute, having been heavily medicated when the babies were bathed and returned, the paper said.
Bobby eventually told his "sister," Kay, and they contacted DeeAnn. The three of them and another Reed sister underwent DNA testing and learned the unimaginable.
Kay and DeeAnn, who both are married, said that thankfully, they each grew up in loving families.
Still, "my whole life would have been different," Kay mused.
Added DeeAnn, "I'm trying to move forward, to look at the positive. I love my kids. I love my husband. I love my life.
"You can't look back. It just drives you crazy."
[email protected]
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