holy cow. i sent a message to my nearest dna match. she is adopted.

[ihas2stinkyfeet]

16. well that's a great euphemism! interesting stuff this science.

i have hit a dead end so far trying to trace my dad's grandma. i cant find any birth, immigration or census records for her. kinda interested as she is an oddball in the family. born in ireland but was english. have a pic, and looks to me to be at least part black.

of the 7 in my family, 5 have her black hair. interested in that, as there are autoimmune diseases in the family that affect the gingers, like me, the most. the black haired one are healthy as horses, mostly. the males, anyway. the women, like me, get sicker when they have kids. esp sons. black hair less so, but gingers all end up w something. the second sons are less healthy. girls born after second sons are the sickest.
been chasing this for 20 yrs. finally think i know what it is. sjogrens syndrome. usually just an annoyance. but viruses and pregnancies make it worse. had most of the viruses that go around, starting w 3 before age 2. got west nile in '02 and havent been the same since.
had 6 pregnancies. 5 kids, lost one in a very bad miscarriage. also lost 1 of a pair of identical twin boys. girl boy girl boy girl. the last one is a mess.
but she is also the kicker. this thing can cause microchimerism in a fetus. this kid is. she is a tetrachrome in one eye, and nearly colorblind in the other. and one of her thumbs is longer than the other. she has been sick sense she was little.
leads me to a lot of curiosity about autoimmune diseases.