An Update on the Past 8 Months

If you invested any of your time and energy with me while my story was unfolding, I owe you an apology. Eight months ago, I buried the lede about the biggest revelation of this ongoing story, and then I disappeared.

Spoiler: my biological father is, in fact, my mother’s fertility doctor.

I could bore you with the mundane details of these past eight months. In time, I will. But for today, I’ll attempt to be succinct and comprehensive with the stuff that matters (along with some repeated info for context). Let’s dive in.

• April 21, 2021: I have a phone call with one of the doctor’s known daughters. Between our first call and our second, she discovers this blog (the same one you’re reading). She texts me that she feels almost certain she knows who my biological father is. She agrees to take a DNA test to confirm if my/her suspicions are correct.
• May 25, 2021: The results of our DNA Siblingship test arrive in my inbox. She and I are a 99.99% confirmed match as half-siblings, and thus confirms what I’d anticipated/dreaded/expected — that my mother’s fertility doctor is my biological father.
• June 8, 2021: Two weeks later, my son, Noah, is born.
• June 25, 2021: I have the opportunity to meet my ‘new’ half-sister, along with two of my other half-sisters, here in Miami. It’s disorienting and special and overwhelming. And it’s full of fear that largely come down to a fragile ego, self-imposed expectations of myself, and a quickly growing-but-still-undiagnosed bout with depression.
• Blah blah blah: Life goes on, work gets crazy. I turn 37. I get help for depression, get myself back together and…still avoid writing.

Then, things start to heat up.

• September 14, 2021: My half-sister files a lawsuit against our mothers’ fertility doctor. It’s picked up in a story by the Rochester Democrat & Chronicle . The doctor is publicly named for the first time. His name is Morris Wortman. The story is picked up internationally, running in the Washington Post, among others. And of course, on the Facebook page of the Maury Show.

Like, really start to heat up.

• February 28, 2022: The New York Times releases a story about me, my half-siblings, and explains that there are at least three known physicians in Rochester, NY who were found to have used their own sperm to impregnate several of their patients. The story also features a glamour shot of yours truly.

• March 15, 2022: WSVN/Fox 7 Miami runs a story about the above, through my lens. They forget to tell me that you can see me barefoot in the opening montage. Around this time, we learned of at least one confirmed new half-sibling, and potentially another. To the best of my knowledge, including the doctor’s known children, there are 15 of us.

Then, I got a phone call from a producer for Good Morning America. Two weeks later, this:

• April 1, 2022: My half-sister, Morgan, and I, are featured on the popular morning show. My mom makes a cameo. Juju Chang does the story an incredible amount of justice in four minutes.

• April 11, 2022: Today! We are awaiting an air date for an additional feature piece with ABC’s Nightline. It will take footage/content from the Good Morning America piece and expand upon it. I am told it may be 12 or so minutes long.

I’ll have more for you soon. And again, if you’re still reading, I’m grateful that you are.