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Growing up, Kevin McMahon often hears playful jokes from his siblings about being a “postman child” because he didn’t look like them.
The 64-year-old Long Island man was third of four children, but he always felt like something was off. It wasn’t until the shocking discovery that the true reasons behind his feelings became clear.
After his nie had a commercial DNA test, McMahon learned that he had no real connection to his family at all.
It was his sister, Carol Vignola, who first learned about the DNA test results and did some research before telling him. She found her birth record at Jamaica Hospital in New York, where McMahon was born. It made it shocking. His name is Ross, and Carroll’s DNA results stated that Ross is a direct relative.
“Two white mothers with the same surname both gave birth to a boy on the same day. They were switched before the birth certificate was signed,” explained McMahon’s lawyer, Jeremy Siowitz.
The error was not detected for decades and no one was aware of the error until DNA testing exposed it.
“There’s no mystery as to what happened,” Siowitz continued. “The Jamaica Hospital has switched babies. DNA proves that. The mystery is how did this happen?”
In response to the discovery, McMahon filed a civil suit against Jamaican Hospital. The hospital declined to comment on the incident.
As a child, McMahon faced difficulties in his early life. His alcoholic mother struggled to provide consistent care to her child. His three brothers were often cared for by paternal grandmothers, and McMahon was sent to live with family friends. He often felt the stab wounds of being treated differently by his grandmother.
“I was treated differently by my grandmother,” recalls McMahon. “She didn’t like me. In time, it meant I was unfavourable.”
McMahon loves his brother with great love, but he can’t help but wonder how his life would be different if he grew up with his born parents.
“I think I could have shared so much with my birth parents and I couldn’t do that,” McMahon shared. “It certainly would have changed the entire course of my life.”
McMahon of Selden, New York, recently got to meet his blood family. He connected with Ross, a boy who was switched to at birth, and his younger brother Keith, whom he had no chance to grow up. McMahon’s sister, Carol, also met Ross, a brother she now knows. The two families, united by tragic mistakes, are learning to deal with the pain that was inflicted on them decades ago.
“They are totally responsible,” McMahon said. “They made one tragic mistake and they completely changed the course of my life.”
As the legal battle continues, McMahon and his new family try to understand a story that until recently seems impossible. For now, they are left to reconstruct what is lost – and something that can never be exchanged.
NBC New York contacted Ross McMahon for comment, but he did not immediately return the call.
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