A shocking web of deceit unraveled when strangers, linked only by their DNA, discovered they were all fathered by the same fertility doctor – the very man their parents had trusted to help them conceive.
Dr Charles Henry Peete Jr, who died in 2013 at 89 years old, was later unmasked as the medical professional who used his own sperm to inseminate hopeful patients – a violation carried out without their informed consent.
After years of suffering from Marfan syndrome – a genetic condition that affects connective tissue and can cause heart, eye, bone and lung problems – Summer McKesson, 43, discovered that her mother had been one of the doctor’s victims.
McKesson had never questioned her biological origins until doctors were left baffled by her condition, as she endured reoccurring and unexplained blood clots in her heart and lungs.
DON'T MISS
After she had undergone open-heart surgery – and a doctor noted grave concern for McKesson’s fragile connective tissue – she learned that her heart would need constant monitoring, and that she was set to endure at least one more major surgery on the organ.
Yet McKesson, raised by her mom and who she thought was her biological father, had no family history of such a condition, which is hereditary. Doctors were puzzled.
‘They had never seen a case like mine before, which was just devastating. I held so much hope that they would know the answer and that they had seen this before,’ McKesson told the Daily Mail.
During her desperate search for answers, McKesson turned to 23andMe – a DNA analysis service that offers customers a look into their genetic history.
Summer McKesson, 43, discovered that her mother had been one of the doctor’s victims following a long and painful battle with Marfan syndrome
In search for medical answers in her genealogy, McKesson turned to 23andMe where she discovered she had at least seven half-siblings
Dr Charles Henry Peete Jr, who died in 2013 at age 89, was unmasked as the medical professional who used his own sperm to inseminate hopeful patients
‘You’re grasping for straws,’ she said. ‘I was on my fifth surgery. I just kept trying to find every angle I could.
‘I didn’t know what to expect… and then I pull up my family and my DNA relatives and I have like seven half siblings – “What in the world is this? I’m shocked.”‘
McKesson discovered that the man she thought was her biological father had been infertile, and her parents had visited Peete after 11 years of failing to conceive.
What is Marfan Syndrome?
Marfan syndrome is an inherited disorder that affects connective tissue, the fibers that anchor your organs and provide support for bones, muscles, eyes, blood vessels and the heart.
Signs and symptoms of the disorder can appear at any age, according to New York-Presbyterian.
Typical signs include, but are not limited to, long arms, legs and fingers, a tall and thin body type, curved spine, chest sinks in or sticks out, flexible joints, flat feet, crowded teeth, or stretch marks not associated with weight gain or loss.
In its most serious complications, Marfan can cause an aortic aneurysm, heart valve disease, or an arrhythmia in the heart.
It is diagnosed through an EKG, which records the electrical activity of the heart, an echo, which evaluates the structure of the heart, an eye exam, an MRI or genetic testing.
Those diagnosed may not need immediate treatment, but will be regularly monitored and often prescribed medication and a series of lifestyle changes.
The results from the DNA analysis showed McKesson that she had at least seven half-siblings – the oldest is 61 years old while the youngest is 39.
‘It took a couple months for anyone to get back to me,’ she said, until finally one pointed her in Peete’s direction.
‘[The message] just said, “Hey, I don’t want to start any drama, but if you want to dig into this, you should ask your mom if she used a Dr Peete,” and – I just got chills saying that, remembering that day.’
For McKesson, her newfound ancestry was shocking.
Her mom, who was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease, couldn’t really answer her questions, and McKesson was left ‘numb and paralyzed.’
‘I had already been through so much with my medical history and my medical issues, and then to find out not only that I’m a sperm donor baby, but also to find out that the doctor used his sperm and that I’m a product of medical rape or fertility fraud… I was just crushed.’
While it remains unclear to McKesson if Marfan syndrome ran in Peete’s family, she said it ‘could also come from the fact that he was older,’ as Peete was 60 at the time she was conceived.
Older parents are more likely to suffer from genetic mutations like Marfan syndrome that could then subsequently be passed on to their children.
McKesson wanted to get in touch with as many of her newly found half-siblings as possible in case they were, or could end up, suffering from similar medical issues.
Now, she has discovered 13 of her half-siblings but said there could be many more.
Four of them were Peete’s born and raised children, McKesson said. One of which got in touch with another of McKesson’s siblings, Jim Harris.
While it remained unclear if Marfan syndrome ran in Peete’s family history, McKesson said it ‘could come from the fact that he was older,’ as Peete was 60 at the time she was conceived
The results from the DNA analysis showed McKesson that she had at least seven half-siblings – her oldest half-sibling is aged 61 and her youngest is 39
McKesson wanted to get in touch with as many of her newly-found half-siblings as possible in case they were, or could end up, suffering from similar medical issues
In North Carolina, Harris began exchanging emails with his newly discovered half-siblings not long after his own dad died.
Harris told CNN that his father’s death caused him to spiral, and he was rocked by the discovery of having multiple siblings after being raised as an only child.
He discovered his shared genetics with Peete, including who he would discover to be Peete’s daughter.
In an email to Peete’s daughter, obtained by CNN, Harris wrote: ‘I don’t know how to tell someone this, but I figured out who your father was on Google and read his obituary. I showed this to my mom and she confirmed that he was her doctor at Duke for the procedure she had with me.
‘I’m sure that this is shocking. I’ve been mind blown. I believe that your father is my donor.’
Harris continued to say he had reached out to another match he found through 23andMe and Ancestry, and ‘they confirmed they too went to Duke.’
Peete’s daughter took days to respond, but when she did, she admitted she was ‘stunned, shocked and completely baffled,’ CNN reported.
McKesson and her half-sibling Jim Harris (right) met up for the first time in October
‘It didn’t even cross my mind that my dad would’ve been the donor, because my dad was the most honorable human being,’ she wrote to Harris.‘…Being a part of whatever or however this happened just doesn’t add up.’
Peete’s daughter later acknowledged to Harris how he resembled her father and said: ‘I think there is more to this story we may never really know.’
Meanwhile, North Carolina-based Laurie Kruppa – together with her husband, Doug – discovered Peete’s crime after revealing to their children that they had been conceived through a donor.
‘We were told it was a resident at the hospital who would resemble my husband – so that meant he would have blonde hair,’ Kruppa exclusively told the Daily Mail.
‘We’re both left handed, and that’s a recessive gene. So, I wanted a left handed person.’
Doug had undergone a vasectomy, so the pair were referred to Duke for fertility treatment in 1980.
The couple opted for intrauterine insemination, which had only become common in recent years at the time due to advancements in freezing and banking sperm.
The procedure involves a doctor placing the sperm directly into the patient’s uterus during ovulation.
Dr Charles Henry Peete Jr is pictured in an undated photo after hunting a shark
Laurie Kruppa found out she was a victim of Dr Peete after telling her children they were born from donor sperm, and said if she had known she would have refused Peete’s specimen
It took the couple seven months to conceive their eldest daughter, two visits for their second daughter, and a single visit in 1984 for their son.
‘Dr Peete was older than my dad, but I didn’t check any of that information out in the beginning, because I never dreamed that would happen,’ Kruppa said, explaining that she didn’t think to imagine having to consider Peete’s characteristics and age as a donor.
‘He was in his 50s. He wasn’t left handed, or we would have had three left handed kids. He was very tall. So my kids are pretty tall, 6ft-5in for [my] son, 5ft-7in and 5ft-8in for my girls. But I wasn’t paying a lot of attention to [Peete].’
Kruppa said that her family was on vacation when the couple decided to tell their children of their biological origins while playing Yahtzee.
‘They will never play Yahtzee again,’ she said, laughing.
She said her children were a ‘little stunned,’ but joined 23andMe to look at their biological history where they discovered the shocking truth.
It was her middle child who asked what hospital they had visited for the treatments, and if they knew the name of their doctor.
Upon learning what had happened to her, Kruppa was ‘glad [her children] were all true siblings,’ but with time, she grew increasingly angry.
Kruppa said her children (pictured with Laurie Kruppa) were a ‘little stunned,’ but joined 23andMe to look at their biological history where they discovered the shocking truth
Kruppa said that, while McKesson’s medical complications were severe, her children experienced odd conditions growing up that didn’t track through her medical history
‘I was so stunned but I started thinking about it and I didn’t think it was fair that he had done this and Duke didn’t know. It took me about six months to get my act together and I wrote a really long email to Duke telling them what happened,’ Kruppa said.
She said that while McKesson’s medical complications were severe, her children experienced odd conditions growing up.
‘One had nephrotic syndrome, my oldest one. And then when I was talking to the doctors about it, they said, “Do you have any Scandinavian background?” I have zero,’ Kruppa told the Daily Mail.
Kruppa was adamant that, had she known about Peete’s plans, she would have refused his sperm.
‘If he would have said, “I can use my own sperm,” I would have said no. Besides his age, I wouldn’t have wanted somebody knowing and possibly following my kids,’ she explained.
However, she also explained that she was troubled by the lack of record keeping throughout the process.
‘He apparently didn’t keep any notes that [the university] could find, but he must have. Either he did it to every single person or he randomly chose people to do it to,’ Kruppa said.
Both McKesson and Kruppa said they had been in contact with Duke University about the shocking discovery.
Duke University said that the ‘unacceptable actions could not happen today at Duke health and should never have happened’
While the university was initially responsive, its cooperation appeared to dwindle after McKesson asked for more of Peete’s medical history.
‘Our program is built on a steadfast commitment to operating within the highest ethical and legal standards in the field,’ Duke officials said in a statement to the Daily Mail.
‘We have been made aware of unacceptable actions by an individual that occurred in our program in the early days of fertility care, at least 40 years ago. The unacceptable actions could not happen today at Duke Health and should never have happened.
‘Duke Health has been in communication with those individual patients and family members who have come forward and who have desired to share information with us. We continue these individual conversations, and we welcome the opportunity to communicate with other patients and family members who choose to come forward.’
Both Kruppa and McKesson considered legal action.
But, with the death of Peete and North Carolina’s lack of statue against fertility fraud, McKesson admitted that it is ‘pretty impossible for the victims to have any sort of justice in this situation.’
For McKesson, she found herself disappointed by the responses from Duke and Peete’s family.
‘The mothers deserve to know… but when they stopped responding… I just decided I really didn’t have another choice but to make this public.’
Activist Eve Wiley has been working with McKesson to pass legislation allowing the offspring of fertility fraud to sue for their medical information or damages
McKesson said that informing the mothers and allowing the offspring of fertility fraud access to medical records were both important reasons for speaking out.
‘But there’s a piece that is a little harder to talk about… [in] these small country towns there is a chance that you could be dating or in a relationship or marrying your half sibling and then their children are at risk,’ she said.
But their story is not the only one, and many activists are fighting to advocate for legislation that fight against fertility fraud, such as activist Eve Wiley, 38, who has joined forces with with McKesson.
According to Wiley, only 14 states have any kind of legislation against fertility fraud. Texas is the only state that classes the malpractice as criminal sexual assault, Wiley said.
‘We push for a civil and criminal cause of action because we want offspring to have the right to sue for their medical information or any type of damages,’ she told the Daily Mail.
‘We’re not touching on issues of unknown identity, unknown medical history – which most people have access to – [as well as] mental health issues and how they’re going to have to navigate all these new half siblings [and] all of the unknowns.’
Wiley said she is pushing for bills to be written into law for the remaining states, and hopefully push for federal legislation one day.
‘People are shocked when I say that nail salons are more regulated than the fertility industry in the United States,’ she said.
Yet, despite the issues that cases such as Peete’s has brought, both McKesson and Kruppa said their newfound family discovery has brought them to some of ‘the most wonderful people.’
‘It’s been really cool to see how we all have similar careers or mannerisms, smiles or physical features,’ McKesson said, adding that finding people that ‘understand and [can] be there for you and support you’ was a blessing despite the deceitful fraud that took place.
