Lifestyle In the 1994 movie Forrest Gump, Mama Gump famously compared life to a box of chocolates saying that, “you never knowwhat you’re gonna get.” This same analogy can be applied to DNA tests, with results being as unpredictable as life itself. For some people, genetic testing has enriched their lives by finding long-lost relatives and new family connections. Alas, this is not always the case. Instead of receiving welcome results from an Ancestry.ca test, mine amounted to a seismic shock and heartbreak.Through DNA analysis of my saliva, the test was intended to confirm the ethnicity of my maternal forefathers − which I had always been told was Dutch. I was deeply committed to the idea that the Netherlanders were my people, however, other family members insisted that our forefathers hailed fromBritain not Holland, an opinion which I was unwilling to accept without proof. Hence the DNA test. My father’s heritage was undisputed, with a well-researched family tree showing his ancestors as unquestionably French, dating back to the mid1700s inMontreal, Quebec.The only lingering question regarding my Dad’s heritage was whether or not his bloodline might contain an aboriginal link, since it was not uncommon for early French frontiersmen to marry Canada’s First Nations women. Once and for all, my DNA test would answer this particular question and, likewise, settle the maternal family debate over our Dutch versus British heritage. The Ancestry test kit contained a clear plastic tube into which I spit until my saliva reached a designated line. I was impressed by the promise that the analysis of a mere thimbleful of my spittle could determine my unique genetic code and ethnic origins, based on 50 per cent of my genes inherited frommy mother and the remaining half frommy father. In addition, the company’s website advised that my sample could possibly connect me to extended family members based on shared DNA drawn from the database of more than 10 million people whom Ancestry had already tested. As instructed, I mailed my sample to one of the company’s testing labs and, five weeks later, I received an e-mail informing me that my results were complete and retrievable online on a private web page accessible to only me. DNA Tests Can Reveal More Than You Bargained For by Donna Carter 36 | www.snowbirds.org
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