Five years ago, Tiffany Gardner learned she had another father. She already had two.<\/p>\n
One had colon cancer and died when Gardner was 4 years old. Her adoptive father taught her to drive and walked her down the aisle at her wedding. At 35 years old, when Gardner received news of a third, \u201cI remember the room spinning,\u201d she said. <\/p>\n
Gardner had been in her mother\u2019s kitchen. During the conversation, her mother let go of a long-held secret about the man Gardner had long believed to be her father. He was in an accident, her mother said. He had to relearn how to walk and talk. I couldn\u2019t get pregnant. The doctors said the accident had likely left him infertile. We used a sperm donor.<\/p>\n
\u201cI felt I was falling backwards trying to process the moment,\u201d recalled Gardner, a lawyer in the Atlanta area and the mother of three boys. Among her feelings was a desire to meet her newly uncovered biological father. It didn\u2019t take long to find him online.<\/p>\n
Read it all<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cThere\u2019s nothing comparable to your genetic parent breaking up with you." Amazing journey from @AmyDMarcus<\/a> on how we're defining family in the age of assisted fertility technologies and DNA testing. https:\/\/t.co\/bLm7bgMuzo<\/a> via @WSJ<\/a><\/p>\n — Stefanie Ilgenfritz (@stefaniei) June 16, 2023<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n \n