Kyle Bylin, left and Jeremy Morrison, right/Image : WDAY News
A Christmas gift has led to a life-changing discovery for two families in the United States after DNA testing revealed that two men were accidentally switched at birth nearly four decades ago. The families are now suing a North Dakota hospital, saying they were deprived of the lives they should have shared with their biological relatives.Kyle Bylin and Jeremy Morrison were both born on January 26, 1988, at Unity Medical Centre in Grafton, North Dakota. According to a lawsuit filed last week, they were the only babies born at the hospital that day but were mistakenly sent home with each other’s parents, Associated Press reported.The truth came to light after Bylin received an at-home DNA test during a Christmas gift exchange. The results connected him with a biological aunt through a genealogy website, prompting Morrison to take a DNA test. The results confirmed they had been raised by the wrong families.Bylin said he was stunned when the findings emerged, describing the revelation as something he and his family had never imagined. Morrison said he became convinced after seeing a photograph of Bylin’s brother, whose resemblance immediately stood out to him. The discovery has left both families grappling with decades of missed milestones. Evelyn Newton, who raised Bylin, said she still considers him her son but feels she was robbed of the chance to watch her biological child grow up.”Kyle is still my son. That is never going to change,” Newton told AP. She said she can never recover the years she missed, from her son’s first steps to learning to drive and getting married.Despite the revelation, Morrison said the DNA results have not changed the way he feels about the parents who raised him.”I was loved. I played sports. I did well in school,” he said, adding that no DNA test could erase 38 years of memories.Unity Medical Centre acknowledged the impact the discovery has had on the families but said it has found no evidence that hospital staff were responsible for the switch. In a statement, the hospital said: “We recognize the profound impact this discovery has had on them and their families.” It added that, because nearly four decades have passed, the medical and staffing records that might have explained what happened no longer exist, and none of the delivery staff from that time are still employed at the hospital. Bylin, however, said he still has the hospital identification bracelet issued at birth, which incorrectly identified him as Kyle Bylin.The two men have since met their biological parents, describing the reunions as emotional but also awkward as everyone adjusts to relationships that should have begun decades earlier. They have spoken to each other by phone but have yet to meet in person.The lawsuit argues that the hospital’s alleged error changed the course of two lives and four families, leaving them to come to terms with a truth uncovered almost 38 years too late.
