Shut up. But at the same time, when she refers to Kay, she says, well, your mother is doing such and such or your mother said this. They have almost nothing in common. What's the treatment? Instead, they were all taught to paint and encouraged to play music. And and of course, I was very busy because I was chairperson and I had so many other things to do. Sometimes my mom thinks I'm a little fanatical. It was the first I had ever heard anything about it. Your mother said this. The card was signed, from your other possible parents. Mary says she felt like everything she was interested in was lost on her parents. Marti's accepted that despite some of the clumsy things that her mother said and did when she broke the news to her, she meant well. Mr. McDonald ran a TV repair shop in town. I remember my friend said to me, you must be adopted because you do not look at all like your parents. And it is a much smaller family, just two kids. Mrs. Miller and Kay McDonald were actually in different churches. And there were a lot of kids too. And the family's relationship with Dr. Deathlok was no small thing, either. I didn't have anything to do with it. I thought that was such a ridiculous thing to say. No, no, no. Just absolutely bizarre things like that. And it is a much smaller family, just two kids. Perfectly clear that, you know, I was a mcdonnel for the longest time, whenever she would write to me, she would include MacDonald in my name. And he did, and he did. Sue is ours. It's available wherever you get your podcasts and. Sue looks happy. And I'm not one to borrow trouble. Mrs. Miller has, for 43 years, been longing to see the child she'd given birth to. Nobody should have gone back and said this is not maybe. Wow, that could be her. In fact, it was the exact opposite. All the girls were in the same room. Well, of course, we felt indebted to him for doing that. Mrs. Miller gave her a noncommittal answer, saying that once upon a time they thought that maybe, perhaps might have. I tried out for cheerleading. I don't think that they ever came to watch me cheer in a game. 42 years after the switch, Reverend Miller finally laid eyes on Sue at the McDonalds' wedding anniversary party. In 1994, Mary Miller wrote letters to Sue and Marti, confessing the secret she'd kept for 43 years: The daughters had been switched at birth and raised by the wrong families. I didn't think it was right to do that. And I am 61 years old. And so that's why I started sending them a copy of our Christmas letter. I was a crazy woman who thought I had her girl. We had a baby scale at home. After all those years, she was just tired of secrets. For this assignment, listen to the Prologue, Act 1, and Act 2 of the This American Life episode #360 called Switched at Birth. And at any point during this time, does it cross your mind, well, why don't we just ask Mom and Dad about this? She's ours now. We love you, Martha Jane-- I'm sorry. This was the side of the family she was raised with, but she seemed tense, watching as Marty made the rounds, everybody laughing, having the two of them so near each other was a little awkward. I feel like I should have made a wrong into a right. And now she wanted everyone's role to be clear. Your service title Give us a brief description of the service that you are promoting. For starters, Mrs. Miller didn't contact Marty Insu at the same time, she first sent the letter to Sue McDonald, the daughter she barely knew, and then waited almost two weeks before mailing the letter to Marty, the daughter she'd raised. I only let myself think about it one time. Switched at Birth. So she said unless there's a real reason that you need to know that, I don't recommend that you dig into it. And so in this half of the story, we hear from the mothers. I'm really a Miller, you know, what does she think of me? But in the end, she made the trip, because she's a Miller and so is Sue, and she's a McDonald and so is Sue. And things are good with Mrs. Miller to Marty's accepted that despite some of the clumsy things that her mother said and did when she broke the news to her, she meant well. April 28, 1991. It was a little surreal to hear her talk about it in this way, laughing like that, especially after hearing McDonald's side of things. And my mother's like, what happened to my life? Mrs. Miller would do or say things concerning the girls, things that just seem strange to Kay. Back in 1994-- this is back in the days when people still delivered big news to each other by mail-- two women who barely knew each other, Martha Miller and Susan McDonald, got a letter from Martha's mom. And here I am, you know, it's like I'm a teenager again and nobody dances with me. Between ourselves, Ruth and me, we, or at least I, always figured you lucked out. That's what it might have ended if it hadn't been for Mrs. Mr. McDonald's health didn't allow it. Your service title . This American Life, I'm IRA Glass. She worried her mother might reject her. Why the big concern about disgracing the doctor over, you know, having the wrong baby? She looks just like Mary. There are birthdays and graduations and figuring out where to spend holidays. She looked exactly like him. When I weighed the baby, she weighed two and 1/2 pounds less than her birth weight. This American Life is produced in collaboration with WBEZ Chicago and delivered to stations by PRX The Public Radio Exchange. Please check the corresponding audio before quoting in print. One of the mothers realized the mistake but chose to keep quiet until the day, more than 40 years later, when she decided to tell both daughters what happened. I don't know why they didn't say. Every day she was at the hospital, the nurses brought her the same baby girl. They understand why she didn't speak out sooner. In the Miller household. Kay is no longer angry the way she was, but she says she'll never understand why Mrs Miller stayed silent for all those years. This is my mom and dad. And I said, heavens, no. I didn't even dance with you. Switched at Birth ended its five-season run on Tuesday with an eventful 90-minute farewell. We love you, Martha Jane, as dearly as our other six children. Between ourselves, Ruth and me, we or at least I always figured you lucked out, probably Martha, with her happy go lucky nature, could take the climate of the Miller home better. And then there was the blondeness and the perkiness and the socializing. And I don't think sue had that sense. Jake Halpern, he's the host of the new podcast Deep Cover, about an FBI agent who goes undercover with an outlaw motorcycle gang. She heard it first from her own mom, who heard it at church. But it was hard, Marty says, to be on the receiving end of this sudden adamant truth telling. You know, I would I was just like, wow, you know, wow. I tried out for cheerleading. Marti worked all of her adult life, and still does, as a nurse. Bob is four and a half years older than Sue, a sweet, jovial guy who never got along with his broody little sister. She grew up with Sue, after all, and she's not actually related to her or to her kids. I don't think that they ever came to watch me cheer in a game. She's ours now. Switched at Birth is a television show featured on ABC Family that has truly brought American Sign Language and Deaf Culture into the living rooms of today's generation. You know, so so then I thought, well, OK, then it's not so bad if she you know, she still believes she's my sister. Switched at Birth is about two teen girls and their families . How did you feel when he said this was God's will? So a bunch of people from the Evangelical Church now knew who Kay McDonald was and who Sue was, and realized that this was the girl Mrs. Miller believed to be her own. Ruth sat down in a Pew near the front next to Faith. Pudd'nhead Wilson. I just couldn't do it. But that's pretty much where it ends. It was Matt Tierney, Nancy Updike and Diane Wu. It wouldn't work. And angry that now the Millers were asking so much of Sue's time and attention. Well, sure, I guess, yeah, a little bit of guilt, but it's not my it's not my fault. Back in 1994, this is back in the days when people still delivered big news to each other by mail to women who barely knew each other, Martha Miller and Susan McDonald got a letter from Martha's mom. 360: Switched at Birth - This American Life Full episode Transcript 360: Switched at Birth Note: This American Life is produced for the ear and designed to be heard. Transcript; Share; This American Life. by. Our website, thisamericanlife.org. She wrote letters to her parents but didn't send them. We're devoting the full hour today to what happened to these two families. And that no one around. And then to think that I didn't get to raise the one that I had wanted so much. They knew Reverend Miller. A week or so after the baby's birth, I was reaching for something way back in the attic closet and started to hemorrhage, then went into convulsions. Incredibly, when Marti was 21 years old, someone actually told her that she might not be a Miller. This is the daughter that actually was in you. That's a big consideration. I thought I had a girl. The series, in which Ms. Leclerc plays a teenager who lost her hearing as a young child, has been off the air for more than a year . And that's where it might have ended if it hadn't been for Mrs. Miller's letter a decade later. Having two sets of parents and two full sets of siblings and cousins is kind of a practical headache. anno 1800 best seed for campaign. No, no, no. This American Life often broadcasts short fiction or essays that touch on absurd or deeply imaginative, but this single-story episode proved that sometimes, truth is stranger than fiction. Thanks especially to the McDonald and Miller families for letting us into their homes and telling their stories. She's also religious, like Sue, but that's pretty much where it ends. And I wanted to be a cheerleader. And like my dad said, you know, you are my child. What was your reaction? And I had probably all of the emotions that you have with a death in a family. The evening just ended up being kind of baffling for everyone involved, since only Mrs. Miller knew what was going on. I was surprised that nobody really ever told us, the Booms, the Tinors, the Langs, the Haisens. And she kept it quiet all those years. As a kid, she was really a live wire. She had both families wanting to make sure that, you know, she was included in their family. It was a different way of living, one that she admires. Our senior producer for this episode is Julie Snyder. And I thought, she even walks like Mary. It exploded. Even if she could somehow convince everyone it was true, what would happen if you suddenly took a six-month-old away from the only mother she knew? It's before kindergarten, so it's OK. Yeah. In fact, we weren't even sure we'd have another child. Marti shared a bed with her sister, Faith, and had to crawl through this vent to get to the bathroom at night, because Faith would block the doorway to the hall. Special thanks to Sheri Weaver, JRA Nelson and Gregg Williams. And I I was kind of stunned. For one thing, she was the only one who joked around. So it's a birthday present. Punishes us in any way. He danced with Marti. When he saw you, Sue, he said, I don't need a DNA test. I never will probably understand why, I mean. I was just not ever meeting their expectation of intellectualism. Did you have enough? I love you both. A small thing, but it was a big thing to me. Marti says she felt like everything she was interested in was lost on her parents. Jake is a writer of several books and creator of the comic, "Welcome to the New World. (26minutes), Jake Halpern tells the mothers' sides of the story. My sister Faith called and she was talking about the way her mother would talk to her, and I'm thinking how would I have survived with that kind of upbringing? That's in a minute, from Chicago Public Radio, when our program continues. He was he, in fact, would call me and tell me, you know, I don't care what she says. And yeah, I think it might be. And she said, oh, no, no. The Millers wanted to incorporate her family into our family as quickly as they could. At last, Mrs. Miller felt free to act. 7 Baby Girls Learn of Switched Fates as 56-Year-Old Grandmothers (1953) Via dailymail.co.uk In 1953, two baby girls were born on May 3 at the Pioneer Memorial Hospital in Heppner, Oregon. It's pretty rare that Marty and Sue actually meet face to face once every few years, they get together for a large family gathering a wedding, a graduation, a funeral. Kay McDonald began getting notes and phone calls from Reverend Miller. And if that weren't bad enough that lots of people in your town, people around you knew years before you did. And I really didn't know anything about the McDonald's. She brought happiness. Like one of my uncles on the birth side, Earl Gonzalez, she circled his name, and she wrote, this is your uncle. You know, she's part of that odd family, you know? I didn't even dance with you. One thing Mrs. Miller doesn't regret is raising Marti. Oh, yeah. He just came out with it. Were you afraid of Norburg at all? Kay McDonald is still tight with Sue, the daughter she raised, but she's also much closer with Marty. She called and visited her parents regularly. It was the four women at the center of all this, the two moms and the two daughters, who were affected more than anyone. Because Mrs. Miller didn't want cross her husband, all she could do was hope that maybe if she dropped enough hints, calling the girls sisters and such, Kay would eventually realize on her own what had happened. You know, it was it was good for us to laugh. In a pretty lighthearted household, she was nervous, studious, serious. I promise you, I'll never try to make you think of me as your daughter. And I he said, why wouldn't you have told me that? And I really haven't, because there's no point. He thought she really dreamed this up in her head and just got obsessed with it. How the truth changed two families' livesand how it didn't. And as you heard in the letter, one thing that makes this whole thing even stranger is that the two couples knew each other. And the moment he saw her, he knew that she was his biological daughter.
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