Have you seen "I am my own Twin"?

[BSNtobe2009]

This was on Discovery Health and was speaking of a very rare phenomenon where a woman was a Chimera.

When she was conceived, the two zygotes that would have otherwise formed fraternal twins, actually completely fused together. When she was born, she was born fully female (as both "twins" were female, luckily). This women went on to give birth to two children, and when a paternity test was done, it was discovered that the father of her children, was indeed, the father, but that she was NOT the biological mother.

She was risking losing her children, because the courts did not see how this was possible, nor the DNA lab doing the tests.

It turns out that when they took DNA samples from different parts of her body, they had a different "footprints", and with added research, it was discovered she was a Chimera.

This is an amazing story, anyone that gets the opportunity to watch it, as it repeats alot, please do. This falls under the catagory, "Just when you think you've heard it all...."

[Reno1978, BSN, RN]

I caught this show near the middle and was fascinated! I remember the blood test coming back that she was not the mother, but I think it was tissue from her thyroid that proved she was the mother. The DNA fingerprint from each source didn't match. Very interesting!

[Gompers, BSN, RN]

I did see that special! It was definitely fascinating.

Wasn't there a part that talked about how this could majorly affect DNA testing and forensics? For example, a father being denied his children because the DNA sample they took from him didn't match, yet had it been taken from another part of his body it would have. Or criminals that get off scott free because the DNA didn't match, but what if it was the same thing there and they really were guilty? Scary.

[BSNtobe2009]

Yup, it sure was.

I saw a case once on Forensic Files where they were having trouble catching a serial rapist. His sperm did not contain genetic material, in other words, he had a high sperm count, but the DNA information was not being duplicated in his sex cells so he was "shooting blanks".

The ended up convicting the guy, based on some circumstantial evidence, but more based on the fact that this condition is so incredibly rare.

[Kelly_the_Great]

Yes, I did see this! It was sooo fascinating (yes, I am a nerd...lol).

It's a phenomenon that's kind of been around for a while that many have hypothesized in the livestock industry - go figure.

Here's some more info. on it, just as a quick scope: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chimera_(genetics).

Check out microchimerism. Thought that was pretty interesting.

Anyway, the implications are huge.

[Tweety, BSN, RN]

Yes, I saw that a while back, if it's the same one, and it was indeed amazing.

[optimisticSRNA]

Man, I totally Tivo-ed it! I love Discovery Health! The shows on that channel are so interesting (yes, I'm a nerd, I know!) That was a great show!

[TazziRN, RN]

Oh, that is so weird! How scary that must have been for the mom, to be told she wasn't the mother. Did the show say why there was DNA testing done for parentage?

[medsurgnurse, RN]

Not to get off subject, but did anyone see the program "The boy whose skin fell off". The man had a rare skin condition in which the skin continously sheds and eventually lead to skin cancer. The story surrounds the events after his terminal diagnosis and his preparation for death. I recommend watching it, especially for those in areas dealing with a lot of patient death (oncology, hospice.) And yep I saw the chimera program. Fascinating. Fascinating that one complete perfect human was created from two fertilized eggs.

[Megsd, BSN, RN]

Not to get off subject, but did anyone see the program "The boy whose skin fell off". The man had a rare skin condition in which the skin continously sheds and eventually lead to skin cancer. The story surrounds the events after his terminal diagnosis and his preparation for death. I recommend watching it, especially for those in areas dealing with a lot of patient death (oncology, hospice.) And yep I saw the chimera program. Fascinating. Fascinating that one complete perfect human was created from two fertilized eggs.

Yeah, that show was really inspiring, especially when he's planning his funeral and wants the can of beans or whatnot on the casket just so everyone will sit at the funeral and ask each other what's up with the can of beans.

[BSNtobe2009]

when I see cases like the boy whose skin fell off, and there was another baby that was born with Treacher Collins Syndrome (that poor baby didn't even look human), and this is where I question our ability to make virtually any infant survive no matter what the birth defect.

I don't consider these babies 'heroic" because they are able to go through 20 surgeries or painful treatments, when you are an infant, what choice do you have?

I wonder if God had it right the first time, when the majority of these babies use to not survive at all. Years and years of living with extreme pain every day of your life, that is no life at all.

[zacarias, ASN, RN]

There was a episode of 'House' not too long ago that dealt with this no?