A staggering 26 million people have taken a DNA test in the past decade. It’s a figure that highlights not only the growing fascination with understanding our genetic make-up, but also the incredible insight such testing can provide into so many aspects of who we are.
A sample of blood or saliva is all it takes to unlock your genetic code – or some of it, at least – and with it, information that can explain your past and change your future. For the individuals in DNA Family Secrets, however, this insight does much more than that, finally offering answers to long-held questions about their family, ancestry, and even their health.
In episode one, presenter Stacey Dooley and geneticist Professor Turi King meet 75-year-old Bill, who has wondered who his father was, and what happened to him, since he was a child. An American GI stationed in their local area during World War II, Bill’s dad returned home at the end of the war and neither Bill nor his mother ever heard from him again.
A name on a birth certificate has been all Bill has had to go on, but now, through a sample of his own DNA, Bill realises it may be possible to not only fill important gaps in the story but discover relatives in the US. It goes without saying that these discoveries are emotional; uncovering unknown parts of your family’s story, especially later in life, can be hugely transformative.
They can be even more life altering when there is a chance that the outlook for your health and wellbeing might not be what you expected. For Charlie, her father’s recent diagnosis with Huntington’s disease, a progressive brain disorder that affects the nervous system, led her to the realisation that she, and consequently her young son, could also be at risk. Though she knows that there is a 50 per cent chance that she and Cian could carry the gene, deciding whether to find out for sure is more complicated. After all, once you are faced with the reality, it’s impossible to take it back.
Bill is looking for answers in ‘DNA Family Secrets’. Source: Minnow Films
It’s here that the importance of genetic counselling in the DNA testing process becomes clear, especially for a disease like Huntington’s, which has no known cure. In fact, 80 per cent of potential carriers who are non-symptomatic choose not to be tested. It all boils down to one seemingly simple, yet life-altering question: is the chance of returning a positive result worth it for the equally probable relief that a negative result would bring?
That’s the thing about the uncertainty that leads people to take a DNA test: the answer it gives can’t be changed. Though they may hold onto the hope it offers of potential reunions, explanations and peace of mind, the participants in the series are also aware that the answers they are seeking are not always the ones they imagined.
Such is the case for 35-year-old triplets Peter, David and Philip, who turn to genetic testing to help them find out more about their birth parents. The brothers were adopted when they were just four years old, and moved to Northern Ireland, growing up only knowing a few basic details about their biological family. They’ve always been curious to know more about their father, but why now? “I think it’s to give you a sense of belonging,” one of the trio says. “Everybody deserves to know who created them.” Through their samples and the information provided by the databases, Professor King discovers that while parts of their biological dad’s ancestry are, as expected, further afield, others are much closer to home.
Delving further into their DNA results, she is also able to analyse their centimorgans, units used to measure genetic links, and what she finds there is initially exciting. These links identify matches, that is, individuals who could be immediate relatives. Unfortunately, no matter how unexpected her findings or the anticipated connections they could reveal, DNA is only part of the story.
Geneticist, Professor Turi King in ‘DNA Family Secrets’. Source: Minnow Films
Behind the statistics, genes and data of each investigation are real people, and not everyone is as keen as the brothers to get to the truth of their family narrative. To have waited for an answer for so long, only to be faced with obstacles in your attempts to reach it, is unimaginably hard. The brothers’ understanding is as remarkable as it is rare, and there’s a very real sense that being prepared for this kind of outcome is part of the process. It’s hard not to be moved by their journey.
As the databases continue to grow, and more and more of us take up the opportunity to find out who we really are, should the knowledge made possible by advancements in DNA be so readily available? And if you’re honest, when placed in a similar situation to the participants in the series, would you really want to know?
DNA Family Secrets premieres at 7:30pm, Sunday 21 November on SBS.
