What if the McDonalds had just taken me home and I'd grown up in the house with my biological parents and my biological brother, who would I be? I would say that Sue and I were probably not that close for whatever reason. And then after I knew that they were. She was a delight to all of us. And when I think of my mother, I think of her. And I'm not one to borrow trouble. So then I just forgot about the whole thing. He's across the border. I just couldn't believe it. It'll be all right. And my mother has told me since then, you know, I really didn't expect that much from you, because I knew that you weren't our child. She says, I was pregnant and you are my child. I don't know how I would have survived. From Marti's perspective, the genetic counselor's prediction from years before seemed to be coming true, and it felt like she was losing both her mothers. When she finally heard from Mrs. Miller, the mother she'd grown up with, not only did she get the letter, but Mrs. Miller had just been to the 50th anniversary party of the McDonalds, Marti's biological parents. We'll keep her. This week's entire show is devoted to the story of Mary Miller's secret and what happened when both families finally learned the truth. She said she wanted to call Marti first, but never managed to reach her. Mary says she felt like everything she was interested in was lost on her parents. She could have been my aunt or my mother talking on the phone. I thought that was strange. They understand what their relationship was like. He thought she really dreamed this up in her head and. But I kept looking for her. This American Life is a weekly public radio show, heard by 2.2 million people on more than 500 stations. And whenever Marti comes to my hometown, she stays with my brother. Sue now had four new sisters and two new brothers. That's what most people in town seemed to feel. The family did all kinds of hobbies, painting and rock polishing and 3D photography. I remember at the wedding when my nephew got married, my brother danced with everybody. No, I didn't. The get-together at Bob and Kay McDonald's house didn't go exactly as she wanted. this american life switched at birth transcriptsour milk bread recipes no yeastsour milk bread recipes no yeast I had my own room. I just thought it was odd that so many people would know in a town of our size, which is like 5,500 people, when that many people were aware of it, that the news didn't get to us. But the good part about that was when I got home from the wedding, and my brother called me, and he said, you know what? She also had an older brother, Bob, named after their dad. Text. And I said, would you have believed me? I only had one daughter and she had five daughters. 42 years after the switch, Reverend Miller finally laid eyes on Sue at the McDonalds' wedding anniversary party. Blood tests were done with the Millers and they proved Mrs. Miller was right about the switch. Rita Hynes lugged her pregnant body up the rural hospital's wooden steps. The counselor asked her what McDonald's knew about all this, and I said, I don't think they know anything about it, so. Bay Kennish grew up in a wealthy family with two parents and a brother, while Daphne Vasquez, who lost her hearing as a child due to a case of meningitis, grew up with a single mother in a poor neighborhood. They were married for 60 years. They were married for 60 years. She was working for a group of pediatricians, which included a genetic counselor. And now she wanted everyone's role to be clear. Marty shared a bed with her sister Faith and had to crawl through this vent to get to the bathroom at night because faith would block the doorway to the hall. [00:00:33] And I said, heavens no. That is why I wanted to write this letter. Wow, that could be her. There is no gray area. Our other children had dark hair and all needed glasses for nearsightedness. She had given birth two years prior, to a girl. She was guarded. And there were a lot of kids too. When she got on the phone, I was just totally blown away. She's with us. She looks just like Mary. And I felt excluded. I I didn't want I would just like that thing because that would ruin our marriage, I would run it. And then there was the blondeness and the perkiness and the socializing. TV-14 | 06.06.2011. And as I the more I thought about it, the more I realized, you know, I can't think about this because it'll drive me crazy if I do. Paul Zimmer is eighty-three years old now, and hes still haunted by something he saw in his teens. But even if it did happen, there is no way to prove it. Just absolutely bizarre things like that. The nurse weighed the baby and must have left her in the delivery room until after Kay's baby was born. But boy, it was a relief for me. this american life switched at birth transcriptwilliamson county sports complex. Finally, on July 10th, 1994, Norbert was willing to go to Kay and Bob McDonald's fiftieth wedding anniversary celebration at Pershing United Methodist Church when he saw you. And the moment he saw her, he knew that she was his biological daughter. Everybody's smiling. Jun I don't know how I would have survived. Here is how Mrs. Miller explained that in the letter. And I'm sorry for her. Sue knew her mother had never been a big fan of the Millers ever since they met. I tried out for cheerleading. It was a little surreal to hear her talk about it in this way, laughing like that, especially after hearing McDonald's side of things. Sue now had four new sisters and two new brothers, and the Millers show her pictures of her other relatives. The hour-long drama, about two teenage girls . She grew up with Sue, after all, and she's not actually related to her or to her kids. And the Millers came. how long does crab paste last; is gavin hardcastle married; cut myself shaving down there won't stop bleeding I mean, that was right. Reverend Miller. What Kaye McDonald didn't know was that there was a whole slew of people in her church community who had heard about the rumored baby switch from the beginning, Mrs. Miller and Kay McDonald were actually in different churches. Act Seven: Saturday and Sunday, Gainesville and Coral Springs FL, Act Two: More Animals Eating Other Animals. I only let myself think about it one time. My mom said, oh, well, you just take after great-grandpa this or aunt so-and-so. A couple of them, including Ruth, had vague memories of their parents talking about it after they brought Marty home from the hospital about how this baby looked different from Mrs. Miller's other babies and that maybe this baby had been switched. The one-hour scripted drama is set in the Kansas City metropolitan area, and revolves around two teenagers who were switched at birth and grew up in very different environments: one in the affluent suburb of Mission Hills, Kansas, and the other in working-class East . And both Marty and Sue worry that the families that always thought were theirs and still want to keep them and both mothers and daughters each had to figure it out on their own. We had a baby scale at home. Maybe because some of the Miller girls had suspected that she was their sister for decades and because Mrs. Miller always knew the truth, Sue was being embraced completely by the Miller clan. And he said, well, I wouldn't disgrace the doctor by telling him it gave the wrong baby. He danced with my mother. She figured if she could simply get Kate a look at Marti Caywood figure things out, the evening just ended up being kind of baffling for everyone involved. Creator/showrunner Lizzy Weiss, director Jeff Byrd and actress Bianca Bethune discuss the intense debates on set, the scene . And I don't know that she was as excited about it as I was. Well, sure, I guess, yeah, a little bit of guilt, but it's not my it's not my fault. What would happen if you suddenly took a six month old away from the only mother she knew? Mary Miller is 96 now. Reverend Miller had once been pastor there, so he and Mrs. Miller were invited. I just couldn't believe it. I changed your diaper and my mother, nothing was going to be different between us. Well, when your husband said to you, this baby's cute, let's keep it. That could be. An original radio drama called "Kathleen on the Carpet," in which animals talk and hold their own "animal court." This doctor had been kind to us and good to us. Sue dismissed it as part of the whole sister thing, which she also thought was kind of weird. That was enough. Kay and Marty both cried when Marty left the wedding for California. But at the same time, when she refers to Kay, she says, well, your mother is doing such and such or your mother said this. And I I was kind of stunned. We had a baby scale at home. She was close to her mother. And so in this half of the story, we hear from the mothers. And so, of course, he was trying to get me to say that I had forgiven them. That was enough. And I said, Who told you to say that? And it was then that I started thinking, oh, my gosh, my life would have been so different. I'm really a Miller, you know, what does she think of me? And all needed glasses for nearsightedness, Martha did not need glasses. Find ratings and reviews for the newest movie and TV shows. TV-14 | 06.13.11 | 43:33 | CC more episodes 01:03:04 S5 E10 - Long Live Love Bay is finally recognized as a successful artist. Very soon after mine, when we took our baby home, she sneezed five times in a row. So at this point, you're probably wondering, why in the world didn't Mrs. Miller straighten this out quicker? She didn't question that. And as Ruth and Faith saw it, it wasn't their place to mess in their parents' affairs, which is why, when her husband Rudy blurted it out a few years later, Ruth was so shocked. I mean, are there times when you when you feel a little bit guilty about kind of having lucked out with the home that was, you know, maybe a little bit easier to grow up in? Reporter Jake Halpern tells the story of Marti Miller and Sue McDonald, the daughters who were switched at birth , and the many complications that came with learning the truth. And she was talking about the way her mother would talk to her. And so I kind of made a promise to myself that. The evening just ended up being kind of baffling for everyone involved, since only Mrs. Miller knew what was going on. Here's Bob McDonald who remember, was having these great phone calls with his newfound sister. Almost 25 years to the day after the student protest at Gallaudet University began in 1988, ABC Family's 'Switched at Birth' features a storyline about a deaf student uprising in an episode . Finally, Sue handed over all the letters that she hadn't sent them in the past month, letters telling them how much she loved them and how much she wanted to stay their daughter. I never will probably understand why, I mean. They say they're not angry with her. So he did know it too. It's all your fault. And before he starts, just to help you keep everybody straight in this story, a quick overview of the two families. Kay McDonald and the Millers eventually reached a kind of detente. And so that's why I started sending them a copy of our Christmas letter. The older girls had sort of always known about the possibility that Marty wasn't their biological sister. For our 25th Anniversary, a favorite episode from 2008. Mrs. Miller's most ambitious scheme happened after the girls graduated from high school when they were about to be 18. Darlene Wolfgram did tell her daughter, though. A month and a half later, she wrote the letter. One mother, Mary Miller, knew and kept it a secret. She was a married mother of three living in Michigan, where her husband worked as a chemist. That's how Mrs. Miller kept track of Sue. So then she found out she had all of these, um, brothers and sisters and the phone calls were fewer. Tact is in her strong suit. And I didn't want it ruined. They said that was a cop out. [1] NBC aired the production as a two-part miniseries over two consecutive nights on . They were nice enough when she spoke to them on the phone, but they weren't exactly welcoming her into the family. The church was the center of their lives and the family never went on vacation or even to the movies. They had dogs and raised angora rabbits. My dad right there who looks happy. And I said, who told you to say that? And until that time, we just talked all the time. She's ours now. But in the end, she made the trip, because she's a Miller and so is Sue, and she's a McDonald and so is Sue. It was an odd strategy, if you can even call it that. She first sent the letter to Sue McDonald, the daughter she barely knew, and then waited almost two weeks before mailing the letter to Marti, the daughter she'd raised. Reverend Miller is affectionate with her, putting his arm around her waist. Because it was terrible that hang over your head and. Marty eventually decided that the only way she was going to resolve this was by getting on a plane and flying out to Wisconsin to meet the McDonald's face to face and give them a real chance to get to know her. It's a little late for your child. Even if she could somehow convince everyone it was true. I think little children take care of. She called and visited her parents regularly. Her name is also Sue. I can't tell you how hard it was, but I got me all along. In the show, one teen from a wealthy family discovers that. Marti eventually decided that the only way she was going to resolve this was by getting on a plane and flying out to Wisconsin to meet the McDonalds face to face and give them a real chance to get to know her. And I thought, she even walks like Mary. I have much anguish and many tears, but I feel I must get this out in the open so you to know how wonderful that you both are, Christians and great workers in the church. Do you have a second? For one thing, she was the only one who joked around. Well, why don't we just ask Mom and Dad about this. And I was super anxious to to meet her and in person.