A DNA test brought four complete strangers together after revealing that they were sisters. But that's not all it did. It also revealed that each of them have the same health condition: inflammatory bowel disease. The story all came together when Katie Sackett turned to a DNA test in 2017 to see if there was a genetic reason for her health problems.
She had been experiencing "strange abdominal cramps" for a while, but had no family history of gastrointestinal problems. Well, the DNA test didn't reveal any genetic causes, but it did reveal something else. Katie was unaware that she had brothers and sisters who were conceived using the same sperm donor, Today.com reports.
"I was getting the results saying you have half-siblings, and I was getting bombarded with questions from my half-siblings like, ‘What kind of life do you live?’ ‘Do you have any medical problems?’” she explained. But one of her half-sisters, Nichole Bambanian, caught her attention when she said, “A lot of us have bowel problems. If you ever have bowel problems, let us know.”
Nichole, Kristin Geffen, and Anna Nevares had all found each other through DNA testing and had inflammatory bowel disease, which is what Katie was soon after diagnosed with. She has Crohn’s disease while the other three have ulcerative colitis.
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Since they have found one another, the sisters have formed a support group. They lift one another up through hard times and also help everyone find the best treatments for their conditions.
“[When] I see them in the thick of it … I’m like I have to be there for you,” Anna said. “You’re my sisters. Even though we’re half-sisters, I’m going to be there because just having someone there who understands it, who has been through it, was so helpful.”
Nichole and Anna first formed a connection when they found out they'd had surgery for a j-pouch when they were younger. Nichole got hers when she was 14, in 2002. Anna got hers in 2006.
Kristin and Katie's experiences, they found, were also similar. “[Our onset] was after children were born and we were healthy — until you’re not,” Kristin explained. “To have sisters that have been through it before, they knew what tests to ask for, what doctors we should go to [has been helpful].”
Eventually, the Kristin and Katie realized that they might also benefit from a j-pouch, and underwent the procedure. “We had surgery on the same day by the same surgeon,” Katie shared. Being there for each other through times such as that one brought them closer together than ever.
Living with inflammatory bowel disease, the sisters say, often goes unnoticed. “It’s an invisible disease and it’s something that has a stigma around it,” Nichole said. “It’s important for people to feel like they are not alone and there are other people out here [with it].”
