{"id":75003,"date":"2018-08-02T17:47:36","date_gmt":"2018-08-02T22:47:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.familytreedna.com\/?p=75003"},"modified":"2025-04-17T13:43:49","modified_gmt":"2025-04-17T18:43:49","slug":"ivys-dna-journey","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.familytreedna.com\/es\/ivys-dna-journey\/","title":{"rendered":"Ivy’s FamilyTreeDNA Story"},"content":{"rendered":"

[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text uncode_shortcode_id=”455824″]<\/p>\n

Ivy\u2019s FamilyTreeDNA Story Begins<\/h2>\n

Ivy\u2019s FamilyTreeDNA story began when she was 20 years old. Her mother revealed to her that she was conceived through a hospital-run sperm donor program in New York. With her mother\u2019s encouragement, this life-changing information allowed Ivy, a self-proclaimed \u201cinformation junkie\u201d, to openly explore her family history and genetic origins.[\/vc_column_text][vc_single_image media=”75004″ caption=”yes” media_lightbox=”yes” media_width_percent=”33″ lbox_caption=”yes” lbox_social=”yes” uncode_shortcode_id=”140679″][vc_column_text uncode_shortcode_id=”186545″]<\/p>\n

A Surprise Match<\/h2>\n

Twenty-five years ago, access to records was far more limited than it is today. The only information Ivy had was the name of the hospital, and her mother had been told that donors were mainly doctors or medical students there. A web page for donor-conceived children to register didn\u2019t offer much help, so, after some time, she moved on and resumed her life.<\/p>\n

\u201cThen,\u201d she says, \u201cFamilyTreeDNA came along.\u201d \u201cIt allowed me to do the mitochondrial DNA test<\/a>,\u201d Ivy says. More often known as mtDNA<\/a>, this test determines an individual\u2019s maternal line and is part of FamilyTreeDNA\u2018s suite of DNA products for ancestry.<\/p>\n

In spite of already knowing who her mother was, Ivy says it was \u201ckind of fun!\u201d Plus, she felt strongly it was just a matter of time before science would allow her to finally find her donor-dad. A few years later, she went back to the donor registry site to see if there were any updates. As it turned out, there was a man with a story very similar to her own. Same hospital. Same time period. He knew everything about the donor program, and had already located his donor-father. This man looked very much like Ivy\u2019s brother, who was also donor-conceived using the same program, but had a different donor.[\/vc_column_text][vc_single_image media=”75005″ caption=”yes” media_lightbox=”yes” media_width_percent=”35″ lbox_caption=”yes” lbox_social=”yes” uncode_shortcode_id=”117812″][vc_column_text uncode_shortcode_id=”182998″]Thinking they might be related, the two agreed to run their DNA and see if there was indeed a match. There was. But, it wasn\u2019t a match between this man and Ivy\u2019s brother. It was her match! She had found a half-sibling, and he knew who their donor dad was.<\/p>\n

Uncovering a Genetic Connection<\/h2>\n

Ivy\u2019s biological father was a young doctor working with the study at the time, newly married with small children. Becoming a sperm donor allowed him to be involved with the science while making extra money for his family. In fact he shared his DNA with multiple DNA databases in the hopes of potentially hearing from his other biological (donor) children. It\u2019s important to note that Ivy was not looking for a father\u2013she had a wonderful dad who raised her as his own. She was, however, very curious to meet the man with whom she shares a genetic connection.[\/vc_column_text][vc_single_image media=”75006″ caption=”yes” media_lightbox=”yes” media_width_percent=”36″ lbox_caption=”yes” lbox_social=”yes” uncode_shortcode_id=”131772″][vc_column_text uncode_shortcode_id=”563734″]Ivy\u2019s FamilyTreeDNA Story gets even better. Ivy\u2019s birth father warmly welcomed her into his home and they discovered many things that they have in common, including the same birthday! \u201cI am super lucky,\u201d says Ivy. Not only does Ivy know where her musical talent comes from, she now has a family of eight new half-siblings with whom she shared an instant bond.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis,\u201d says Ivy, \u201cis my best party story ever!\u201d[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/vc_row]<\/p>\n<\/section>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

When Ivy was 20 years old, her mother told her that she was conceived through a hospital-run sperm donor program in New York.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":78487,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[121,562],"tags":[1232,1234,1278],"yoast_head":"\nIvy's FamilyTreeDNA Story - FamilyTreeDNA Blog<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"When Ivy was 20 years old, her mother told her that she was conceived through a sperm donor program. That's just the beginning of Ivy's FamilyTreeDNA Story.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/blog.familytreedna.com\/ivys-dna-journey\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Ivy's FamilyTreeDNA Story\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"When Ivy was 20 years old, her mother told her that she was conceived through a hospital-run sperm donor program in New York.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/blog.familytreedna.com\/ivys-dna-journey\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"FamilyTreeDNA Blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"http:\/\/www.facebook.com\/FamilyTreeDNA\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2018-08-02T22:47:36+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-04-17T18:43:49+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/blog.familytreedna.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/Customer-Stories-Blog-11.png\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1200\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"630\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"FamilyTreeDNA\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@FamilyTreeDNA\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@FamilyTreeDNA\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"FamilyTreeDNA\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/blog.familytreedna.com\/ivys-dna-journey\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/blog.familytreedna.com\/ivys-dna-journey\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"FamilyTreeDNA\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/blog.familytreedna.com\/#\/schema\/person\/0825ec70320c525114ecbc0cbc60551c\"},\"headline\":\"Ivy’s FamilyTreeDNA Story\",\"datePublished\":\"2018-08-02T22:47:36+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-04-17T18:43:49+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/blog.familytreedna.com\/ivys-dna-journey\/\"},\"wordCount\":618,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/blog.familytreedna.com\/#organization\"},\"keywords\":[\"Customer Stories\",\"Family\",\"mtDNA Customer Stories\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Customer Stories\",\"Family\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/blog.familytreedna.com\/ivys-dna-journey\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/blog.familytreedna.com\/ivys-dna-journey\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/blog.familytreedna.com\/ivys-dna-journey\/\",\"name\":\"Ivy's FamilyTreeDNA Story - FamilyTreeDNA Blog\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/blog.familytreedna.com\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2018-08-02T22:47:36+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-04-17T18:43:49+00:00\",\"description\":\"When Ivy was 20 years old, her mother told her that she was conceived through a sperm donor program. That's just the beginning of Ivy's FamilyTreeDNA Story.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/blog.familytreedna.com\/ivys-dna-journey\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/blog.familytreedna.com\/ivys-dna-journey\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/blog.familytreedna.com\/ivys-dna-journey\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/blog.familytreedna.com\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Ivy’s FamilyTreeDNA Story\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/blog.familytreedna.com\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/blog.familytreedna.com\/\",\"name\":\"FamilyTreeDNA Blog\",\"description\":\"All things FamilyTreeDNA and genealogy.\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/blog.familytreedna.com\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/blog.familytreedna.com\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/blog.familytreedna.com\/#organization\",\"name\":\"FamilyTreeDNA\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/blog.familytreedna.com\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/blog.familytreedna.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/blog.familytreedna.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/06\/ftdna_primary_v_logo_2clr.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/blog.familytreedna.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/06\/ftdna_primary_v_logo_2clr.png\",\"width\":1728,\"height\":864,\"caption\":\"FamilyTreeDNA\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/blog.familytreedna.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"http:\/\/www.facebook.com\/FamilyTreeDNA\/\",\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/FamilyTreeDNA\",\"http:\/\/www.instagram.com\/familytreedna\/\",\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/company\/dna-findings\/\",\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/channel\/UCGXMVPJ5TBwcIvvRt3XWpDw\"]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/blog.familytreedna.com\/#\/schema\/person\/0825ec70320c525114ecbc0cbc60551c\",\"name\":\"FamilyTreeDNA\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/blog.familytreedna.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/a6425f2078dda744f0a1d3a42f95f788?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/a6425f2078dda744f0a1d3a42f95f788?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"FamilyTreeDNA\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/blog.familytreedna.com\/es\/author\/claytoncgenebygene-com\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Ivy's FamilyTreeDNA Story - FamilyTreeDNA Blog","description":"When Ivy was 20 years old, her mother told her that she was conceived through a sperm donor program. That's just the beginning of Ivy's FamilyTreeDNA Story.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/blog.familytreedna.com\/ivys-dna-journey\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Ivy's FamilyTreeDNA Story","og_description":"When Ivy was 20 years old, her mother told her that she was conceived through a hospital-run sperm donor program in New York.","og_url":"https:\/\/blog.familytreedna.com\/ivys-dna-journey\/","og_site_name":"FamilyTreeDNA Blog","article_publisher":"http:\/\/www.facebook.com\/FamilyTreeDNA\/","article_published_time":"2018-08-02T22:47:36+00:00","article_modified_time":"2025-04-17T18:43:49+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1200,"height":630,"url":"https:\/\/blog.familytreedna.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/Customer-Stories-Blog-11.png","type":"image\/png"}],"author":"FamilyTreeDNA","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@FamilyTreeDNA","twitter_site":"@FamilyTreeDNA","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"FamilyTreeDNA","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/blog.familytreedna.com\/ivys-dna-journey\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/blog.familytreedna.com\/ivys-dna-journey\/"},"author":{"name":"FamilyTreeDNA","@id":"https:\/\/blog.familytreedna.com\/#\/schema\/person\/0825ec70320c525114ecbc0cbc60551c"},"headline":"Ivy’s FamilyTreeDNA Story","datePublished":"2018-08-02T22:47:36+00:00","dateModified":"2025-04-17T18:43:49+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/blog.familytreedna.com\/ivys-dna-journey\/"},"wordCount":618,"commentCount":0,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/blog.familytreedna.com\/#organization"},"keywords":["Customer Stories","Family","mtDNA Customer Stories"],"articleSection":["Customer Stories","Family"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/blog.familytreedna.com\/ivys-dna-journey\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/blog.familytreedna.com\/ivys-dna-journey\/","url":"https:\/\/blog.familytreedna.com\/ivys-dna-journey\/","name":"Ivy's FamilyTreeDNA Story - FamilyTreeDNA Blog","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/blog.familytreedna.com\/#website"},"datePublished":"2018-08-02T22:47:36+00:00","dateModified":"2025-04-17T18:43:49+00:00","description":"When Ivy was 20 years old, her mother told her that she was conceived through a sperm donor program. That's just the beginning of Ivy's FamilyTreeDNA Story.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/blog.familytreedna.com\/ivys-dna-journey\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/blog.familytreedna.com\/ivys-dna-journey\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/blog.familytreedna.com\/ivys-dna-journey\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/blog.familytreedna.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Ivy’s FamilyTreeDNA Story"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/blog.familytreedna.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/blog.familytreedna.com\/","name":"FamilyTreeDNA Blog","description":"All things FamilyTreeDNA and genealogy.","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/blog.familytreedna.com\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/blog.familytreedna.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/blog.familytreedna.com\/#organization","name":"FamilyTreeDNA","url":"https:\/\/blog.familytreedna.com\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/blog.familytreedna.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/blog.familytreedna.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/06\/ftdna_primary_v_logo_2clr.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/blog.familytreedna.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/06\/ftdna_primary_v_logo_2clr.png","width":1728,"height":864,"caption":"FamilyTreeDNA"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/blog.familytreedna.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["http:\/\/www.facebook.com\/FamilyTreeDNA\/","https:\/\/twitter.com\/FamilyTreeDNA","http:\/\/www.instagram.com\/familytreedna\/","https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/company\/dna-findings\/","https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/channel\/UCGXMVPJ5TBwcIvvRt3XWpDw"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/blog.familytreedna.com\/#\/schema\/person\/0825ec70320c525114ecbc0cbc60551c","name":"FamilyTreeDNA","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/blog.familytreedna.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/a6425f2078dda744f0a1d3a42f95f788?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/a6425f2078dda744f0a1d3a42f95f788?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"FamilyTreeDNA"},"url":"https:\/\/blog.familytreedna.com\/es\/author\/claytoncgenebygene-com\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.familytreedna.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/75003"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.familytreedna.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.familytreedna.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.familytreedna.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.familytreedna.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=75003"}],"version-history":[{"count":15,"href":"https:\/\/blog.familytreedna.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/75003\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":78488,"href":"https:\/\/blog.familytreedna.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/75003\/revisions\/78488"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.familytreedna.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/78487"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.familytreedna.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=75003"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.familytreedna.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=75003"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.familytreedna.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=75003"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}