This episode takes us through an extraordinary exploration of family, identity and the unforeseen connections DNA testing can reveal. Our guest, Brenna Siperco, shares her compelling story of curiosity, discovery, and the complex emotions surrounding donor-conceived relationships. This episode not only peels back the layers of Brenna's personal journey but also delves into broader discussions on the implications of genetic testing and the ethics of donor conception.

College Student Reveals I Have 75 Brothers and Sisters

Episode Highlights:

• The Catalyst for Discovery: Brenna details her initial decision to undergo a 23andMe DNA test, driven by a lifelong curiosity about her biological origins and the possibility of having siblings she's never met.
• A Sibling Network Unveiled: The revelation that Brenna has discovered 75 siblings through DNA testing, surpassing her wildest expectations and leading to a mix of astonishment and excitement.
• Emotional Encounters: Brenna recounts the profound experience of meeting her siblings for the first time, highlighting the surreal and immediate connections that challenge traditional notions of family and belonging.
• Navigating Anonymity: The discussion shifts to the anonymity of the sperm donor, known only by a number, and Brenna's nuanced views on privacy, respect, and curiosity about her biological father.
• Voices from the Donor-Conceived Community: Brenna shares insights into the donor-conceived community's perspectives, advocating for more transparency and regulation while respecting individual choices and circumstances.
• Shared Traits and Interests: An exploration of the diverse ages, interests, and talents among Brenna's siblings, revealing surprising similarities and the role genetics and environment play in shaping us.
• Support Systems and Future Aspirations: The episode touches on the support Brenna received from her parents, the dynamic within the sibling group chat, and dreams of a grand family reunion.

Through Brenna's story, "Family Twist" listeners are invited to reflect on the meaning of family in the modern era, the power of genetic connections, and the evolving landscape of reproductive technologies.

Closing Reflections:

Brenna Siperco's journey into the heart of her genetic lineage offers a profound look at the unexpected paths our lives can take when curiosity meets science. Her story is a testament to the strength of newfound connections and the resilience of individuals navigating the complex web of donor conception. As we conclude this episode, we're reminded of the endless possibilities that come with opening the door to our past and the future relationships we might find on the other side.

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Kendall and Corey: Thanks for joining us again on season four of Family Twist. We've got Brenna Saperco with us today, welcome Brenna.

Brenna: Thank you.

Kendall and Corey: So just out of the, uh, out of the bat, I'm curious about why you decided to take a 23andMe DNA test.

Brenna: So I had known I came from a donor for really as long as I can remember and I was always curious about whether or not I had any siblings I figured I had some I never knew how many I was gonna have So I wanted to take the DNA test and find that out But also find out what else comes with it like, you know My origin and where I'm from and everything like that, but I didn't know it turned out to be so many.

Kendall and Corey: Hahahahaha so I remember the last article I read about you, I think it was 65. Have you found more?

Brenna: Yes, I believe there's 75 now

Kendall and Corey: Oh my goodness. Wow.

Brenna: Yeah, so it's increased a lot.

Kendall and Corey: It's amazing. How many of you met in person?

Kendall and Corey: Wow. Very cool. What's it like when you're laying eyes on a sibling for the first It's

Brenna: very interesting. It's weird seeing someone that's kind of similar to you, but you didn't grow up with, and then you're looking at them and you're seeing all the types of mannerisms that you have too, that are very similar, and it's kind of like, Mind boggling that like you haven't known these people your whole life, but you can relate to them so much.

Kendall and Corey: Yeah. Now you have a, a younger brother with your parents,

Brenna: Yes, I do

Kendall and Corey: But, but no, no sisters until you took the DNA test. So was that something you'd like, had always wanted to have a sister?

Brenna: I did always want to have a sister just because I love having my brother but having a sister is just something completely different you can relate to other things and they're more my age. So I'm very glad that I get to have that experience with them now

Kendall and Corey: What is the age range of your siblings?

Brenna: goes from 14 to 27, I believe. Yeah. So there's a big

Brenna: they took a test and then they're like in the group chats and everything there could be younger ones that, you know, just haven't been able to do that yet or, you know, don't want to. But as of right now, yeah, they just turned 14 too.

Kendall and Corey: Wow. Oh, boy. Wow. And within your sibling pod, do you guys know much about the donor father

Kendall and Corey: Yep. Sure. Absolutely. Well, you know, it's funny, we've been, finding out more about the fertility industry and the donor conceived community just through this podcast. And I know you've got some strong opinions about regulations and stuff too. What are your thoughts just in general on the donor conception community?

Kendall and Corey: Oh, absolutely. we don't want to disparage clinics that are doing it the right way. It's just, we've heard from donor conceived folks and donors themselves that are just like, they weren't giving all the information or it was like some tricky sort of information as they were giving. I don't know if you're familiar with Donor Dylan on Instagram, but he's found dozens of his kids and like it was in a roundabout way. It was kind of weird that he was able to be found because he didn't, he marked that he wasn't, he didn't want to be found until he, you know, the kids were 18 and some of the mothers tracked him down. Now his story is good in that he's starting to form a relationship with some of his kids, but, you know, he's 32 years old and he's got, you know, dozens and dozens of children.

Brenna: that's

the It's

Kendall and Corey: Right. Right. And maybe some health history there too. I mean, there's probably more details and stuff that your siblings would like to know just so they can be prepared.

Brenna: Mm hmm. Yeah. Cause things might not pop up till he's older. You never know.

Brenna: probably not.

Kendall and Corey: Well, What did your parents think about you taking the DNA test and potentially finding siblings?

Brenna: They supported me through it. My mom was like, I made this decision, you can go about it however you want to do it and everything. Um, so they were happy about it. They knew that I was excited to do it and see who I could find. And they love when I go and meet them. Like my dad came to the Inside Edition and he met some of my siblings. Like they're very involved, They find it very interesting.

Kendall and Corey: Are there any twins or triplets in your sibling pod? Wow.

Brenna: a lot. There's at least seven sets of twins. I believe. And there's one set of triplets that I know of, so there's a decent amount.

Kendall and Corey: Very cool. Well, we know that you're still in school and you're very athletic. Have you found any similarities in studies or athleticism between your siblings and you?

Kendall and Corey: Really cool. Very cool. Have you had the opportunity to get together with any of them for a holiday?

Brenna: No, we have not done that. Which, that would be fun. That would be a good idea. But, unfortunately,

Kendall and Corey: are there some that are within driving distance of you?

Brenna: Yes, there's around five others that live in Maryland where I live. So my oldest sister, 27, Fabi, she lives in Baltimore and I live like 15 minutes from Baltimore. Then the rest are like 40, 45 minutes. So we're all pretty close in that aspect.

Kendall and Corey: How often do you get to see Fabi?

Kendall and Corey: Cool. What are some of the surprising things that you've discovered since you took the test and found all of these siblings? Aside from the surprise of having seventy five, seventy four other siblings.

Brenna: Let's see, um, probably that a lot of their stories are different in the way that they came to be donor conceived or the way that they found out about it. Like, I found out about it because my mom eventually told me, but I, it was quite, no, well, kind of. So I was in the car with my cousin and I was upset because I was like, I don't know who my dad is. And then she was like, don't you come from a sperm donor? When I was with my grandparents, I wasn't even with my

Kendall and Corey: Oh boy.

Brenna: do I like, can you answer that for me? I don't

Kendall and Corey: Oh boy.

Kendall and Corey: Sure. Right.

Brenna: you know,

Kendall and Corey: That's really cool. I hadn't really thought about the fact that, with technology and the DNA test that a lot of kids could be really young if their parents are interested in having them meet siblings, it'd be pretty easy to do.

Brenna: I don't even know how they all got to know each other that young.

Kendall and Corey: Yeah.

Brenna: That's actually a pretty good question. I should ask,

Kendall and Corey: That's

Brenna: but it's like like the parents met up or did something like that, but that and some people find out in different ways. Some people never knew they were donor conceived until they took a DNA test. And that was quite a shock to them and very hard for them because they're like, well, I have been lied to, like, I don't know how to feel about that. And so it's hard for them in that aspect, but we try and support them, you know, the best we can.

Brenna: yeah, whenever, like, someone gets added to the group chat, and they're like, Whoa, like, that's a lot of people, we're like, it's okay, like, take your time, like, If you wanna leave and then come back once, you know, it's processed in your head, And you're ready to talk to everybody, then that's fine, don't feel, rushed and obligated like we completely understand. We've all been through this before. There's you can take your

Kendall and Corey: For sure. Yeah, absolutely. How active is the chat?

Kendall and Corey: Yeah, that's really cool. Yeah. Um, let's go back a second. I'm just curious of like what the reaction of your grandparents were while you're driving with your cousin and your cousin kind of blurts that out.

Brenna: Okay. I don't even remember, because I was really young. But, I think they kind of just told her to be quiet, I would imagine, or something like that, honestly. Um, I was probably in elementary school, so it's kind of like a blurred thing. I just mainly remember like, Oh, who's my dad? Don't you come from a sperm donor? And then that was kind of like it. The rest is

Kendall and Corey: Sure. And I guess that your mom had to immediately kind of explain the situation.

Brenna: Yeah. Yeah.

Kendall and Corey: Wow. Oh boy.

Kendall and Corey: Right. Yeah. I bet. Yeah.Have you guys talked about maybe doing like a like a big group vacation or like try to do a reunion where you can get? Everybody together.

Brenna: We have talked about going to, I think, Gatlinburg, and we want to rent out, like, one of those big cabins, because I feel like if all of us there split the price, it would be very affordable in that aspect. So we're talking about something like that, getting a big house somewhere, it's just, with so many people and so many different work schedules and school schedules and family schedules, it's very hard to narrow it down to when everybody can do it. Mm hmm.

Brenna: Hmmm. It varies, I think it depends on the situation,like, for example, I'm coaching a volleyball team, and we were like, say your name and give a fun fact, and a lot of them were saying how many siblings they had. And then when it got back to me, they were like, well, what's your fun fact? And I'm like, I got y'all beat on the siblings. I got 70, but, so it's like, in that aspect, I suppose, like, kind of blurt it because it catches people by surprise. It's interesting to see people's reactions to it when they're like, oh, I'm like

Kendall and Corey: Yeah. Yeah. I'm sure there's like a million questions that pop up when you do

Brenna: Yeah,

Kendall and Corey: Yeah.

Brenna: they're like how is that possible on comments on posts people say like your dad was a rolling stone I'm like Yeah,

Brenna: we get around, I would say like two every couple months, if that, maybe more. I would say there's definitely a lot more than we think. Cause we hit like 60 and we were like, wow, like that's a lot. There can't be any more than more. Just keep showing up so I have no clue like it could just keep on like they could just keep on rolling in Or it could be a steady stop for a long time and then more might come But I guess we won't know until we just stop hearing from

Kendall and Corey: hmm. Right. Is there a, since you guys only have his donor number, are you able to determine, like, is he still being distributed? Mm hmm.

Kendall and Corey: Yeah.

Brenna: back. But, he already has enough. Like, he's got enough money from it all and everything. But, I don't know. That's a good question. I'd have to look

Kendall and Corey: Wow. Have you guys talked about if, if potentially a half sibling comes up that's from him, that's one of his actual kids that he raised? Oh.

Brenna: Yeah, that, pfft, I don't even know how I would feel about that. Like, if they did a DNA test and they don't know about us, Like if he never told them and then they're just like who are all of these people and he's like I have something to tell you. Um, that would be interesting. I mean, I would want to talk to them. I mean, they're one of my half siblings, so. But, if he lets them do his DNA test, or if he's told them not to, or I don't know what's going on. But, it'd be definitely something interesting to

Kendall and Corey: Absolutely. Yeah. Wow.

Brenna: Mhm.

Brenna: you do. It can't be a quick

Kendall and Corey: it's like, wait, wait, sorry, I'm, I'm getting things out of order. Let me stop being confusing. And even trying to put the family tree together sometimes is, I remember when we first found all my siblings and even Corey was like, this is confusing. Can we write this down? You know, it's like. And I only have six, which is, you know, different, but, oh, yeah,

Kendall and Corey: half. Yeah. Ha ha. Half. But yeah. Yeah, it's has everybody's been like mapping out a family tree. Wow.

Brenna: um, not really. We, I mean, we can go on 23 meat and it'll show our family tree. Just nothing on his side. So other than that.

Kendall and Corey: Hmm. Very cool. Wow. Well, I, it definitely seems like you're handling this quite well, , you know. Yeah. You'll have to definitely keep us in the loop if you and your siblings do end up like doing a big reunion or something like that because it would be fun to hear about, um, you know, get together with, you know, 20, of you. Wow. Wow.

Yeah. Yeah, exactly. Awesome. Well, uh, you know, good luck on your finals and thanks for sharing your story.

Brenna: Yes, of course. Thanks for talking to

Kendall and Corey: Yeah. Of course. Yeah. Awesome. Glad we finally got to. Yeah, for sure. Make it happen. Yeah. Let me. Awesome. Maryland is so beautiful too.