A Woman’s AncestryDNA Test Revealed a Medical Secret
As a cancer patient, she had received cord-blood cells from an anonymous donor. The DNA from those cells led her to him.
TL;DR
- Holly Becker, who received an umbilical-cord-blood transplant in 1997 to treat non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma, discovered her anonymous donor, Patrick Davey, through an AncestryDNA test.
- The DNA test matched Becker to Davey because his stem cells, received during the transplant, had become her cells, altering her DNA.
- This marks the first public instance of a cord-blood recipient meeting their donor, a scenario previously prevented by strict anonymity policies.
- The discovery challenges the long-standing policy of anonymity in cord-blood donation, implemented for ethical reasons to protect both donors and recipients.
- The case has implications for cord-blood banks regarding informed consent for future donors and the potential for recipients to find donors through consumer DNA tests.