DNA Testing: Blood Is Thicker Than Water Story by Molly Chepenik
Photos by Melissa Hernandez De La Cruz
a wealthy Jewish family. Wolff said her mother was never really interested in knowing who her birth parents were until she decided to take a DNA test. “We found out my mom was 50% Italian and 50% Eastern European Jewish,” Wolff said. “We got the biggest kick out of that because my mom always loved cooking and Italian culture.” Wolff said her mother was matched with a first cousin through AncestryDNA, and through the cousin she connected with a woman named Sharon, who turned out to be Beth’s biological half-sister.
Sibl i ng s receive ha l f of t hei r DNA from t hei r mot her's egg a nd t he ot her ha l f from t hei r fat her's sper m.
Alyssa Wolff was shocked to find out she had any cousins at all on her mother’s side, so she was floored the moment she found out she had a cousin at the same university and in the same sorority as her. “I was at a meeting, and my mom said to call her immediately,” Wolff said. “I ran to the car, and she asked if I was ready for the news. When she told me, I started crying.” In 2018, Wolff was a senior and her cousin, Jenna Reich, was a freshman at the University of Florida. It was through a long process of DNA testing and cross-referencing ancestry websites that their families discovered that Wolff’s mother was halfsiblings with Reich’s father, Frank.
Marley and Delila Penson are identical twins at the University of Florida. Identical 18 The Origins Is sue
twins share 100% of their DNA.
Reich is from Long Island, New York, and Wolff is from Naples, Florida. Blood connected the cousins, but pure coincidence brought them to Gainesville. A 2020 Pew Research study found that 16% of Americans have used mail-in DNA testing services. Some seek DNA testing to know their medical histories and others are curious about their family heritage. Wolff’s mother, Beth, mailed in a sample to AncestryDNA when she began to question her identity in her 50s. Beth was adopted and did not know her biological parents. In the early 1960s, Wolff and Reich’s grandmother left her family for some time, had an affair and gave birth to Beth and gave her up for adoption to
G enes ma ke up about 3% of your DNA .
“[Sharon and I] speak at least weekly and keep up on other members of our family,” Beth Wolff said. “We have been integrated into each other’s lives.” Reich knew about her familial connection to Wolff a couple of days earlier and was waiting for them to connect. She saw her on campus and was dying to tell her that they were related. After Wolff found out, she picked up Reich and the two of them went to get frozen yogurt. “I pulled up pictures of our family and tried to describe everyone,” Reich said. “It’s a lot to take in at once.” Reich said it was great that DNA testing helped their family, but it can be scary to learn about things from the past. According to Wolff, she is just happy for her mom, who never felt like she truly belonged anywhere before finding her family. “Ultimately, it ended up being the best thing ever,” Wolff said. “She feels like she has her own family and knows her origins and where she came from.” The Origins Is sue 19
