Mother for 30 years hid her gender from her daughter: DNA test revealed the truth
'11.09.2020'
Source: Medialeaks
A resident of the United States decided to take a DNA test to learn more about her roots, but the test results turned her life upside down. The American was finally able to understand why everything in her life is not the same as that of other girls, and what her mother was very carefully hiding, says Medialeaks.
Dawn Covino from New York State at the age of 12 began to feel uncomfortable, writes The Sun. She could not find a common language with her friends and noticed that she was different from other girls.
As a 46-year-old woman recalls, at school she had to stay away from her classmates so that they would not notice the strangeness in her behavior.
“The girlfriends talked about their menstruation, but it didn't start for me,” Dawn admitted.
When Kovino was 15 years old, hair began to grow actively on her armpits and throughout her body, which greatly embarrassed the girl. Dawn began to hide her body even from her mother, and this was not left without the attention of the woman. She decided to seek medical help.
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After examining the girl, the specialists talked to her mother. Dawn managed to overhear the conversation and learned that she was born without a womb. Moreover, the doctors decided to remove the girl's ovaries.
“I was told that they [ovaries] could develop cancer. I went for surgery a month before my 16th birthday, ”said Dawn.
After the surgery, the American woman went to doctors more than once to find out what was happening to her, but the doctors did not tell her anything.
“I turned to three more doctors for help, so that they took my tests and examined me. Nobody explained anything, and I decided not to ask any more questions, ”the woman concluded.
As Kovino recalls, after being discharged from the hospital, she was prescribed pills that she should have taken all her life. She was also saddened by the fact that she could not have children.
“I tried my best not to talk about it, but I was heartbroken that I would never be a mother,” Dawn explained.
The turning point in her life came in February 2002, when she met her future husband Robert. They immediately found a common language, two years later they got married, and in 2005 they thought about having children.
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“When my girlfriends got pregnant, envy awoke in me. Robert and I discussed adoption, ”Kovino recalls at the time.
The couple adopted two one-year-old twins - a boy and a girl. Dawn was in seventh heaven with happiness, because her dream of becoming a mother came true. But due to the fact that the kids had developmental features, in 2012, Kovino decided to give them a DNA test, which sometimes changes their fates, and find out everything about their health.
The woman bought the test on the Internet, and sent the results by mail. Then the American remembered: her father always told her that the family had Polish roots, so Dawn decided to also take the test and find out her pedigree, but the answer from the experts surprised her.
“Two weeks later, I received an email saying that something was wrong with my sample. In the questionnaire I wrote that I am a woman, but the test showed that I have male chromosomes, ”Dawn opened the curtain.
This is how the woman learned that she was an intersex person - a person born with sex characteristics that do not match the typical definition of a male or female body. For example, a person may have a female body but no uterus, or a male body with an extra Y chromosome.
Upon learning the truth, Dawn felt relieved as she found the cause of all her health problems. First of all, Kovino called her mother and told her about the discovery.
“Mom burst into tears. She knew everything, but the doctors asked her not to tell me. She wanted to take this secret with her to the grave, ”the woman said.
Robert was delighted too. Dawn believes that her husband began to love her more than before and supports her in all endeavors.
“I am a wife, mother, psychologist and friend. I am no longer ashamed of my body and who I am, ”summarizes Dawn.
