Genetics, What is Yours is Mine..

Heredity is the passing of traits from parents to this offspring, through asexual or sexual reproduction. This is the process by which an offspring cell or organism acquires or becomes predisposed to the characteristics of its parent cell or organism. 

In humans, eye color is an example of an inherited characteristic: an individual might inherit the "brown-eye trait" from one of the parents. Inherited traits are controlled by genes and the complete set of genes within an organism's genome is called its genotype.

Your direct maternal lineage is the line that follows your mother’s maternal ancestry. This line consists entirely of women, although both men and women have their mother’s mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA). This means that fathers do not pass on their mtDNA to their children. Your mtDNA can trace your mother, her mother, her mother’s mother, and so forth and offers a clear path from you to a known or likely direct maternal ancestor. An artificial reproductive process known as Three Parent In Vitro Fertilization (TPIVF) results in offspring containing mtDNA from a donor female, and nuclear DNA from another female and a male.

Mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) is not transmitted through nuclear DNA (nDNA). In humans, as in most multicellular organisms, mitochondrial DNA is inherited only from the mother's ovum.

Every single person on this planet has a mother and a father. Regardless of their birth, in order to begin you have to have parents. Regardless of how I feel, I have a mother and I have a father, both of which are still alive. I also have half siblings that I share my genetic DNA with. Many times I have said that I don't have a mother, blah blah blah. But the truth and hard reality is I DO and regardless of how my siblings feel Jane IS my mother and I AM her daughter. This is something that can never be changed. I have my mother's mtDNA in my cells and so do my half siblings, of which we share a whopping 25% of the same genetic DNA.

It was made known to me that I have no right to talk about MY MOTHER the way that I do. Well, I am sorry to inform everyone, she IS my mother and I can actually say what I want to about her. I had a sort of relationship with her after I found her in July of 1993, but my entrance into her world shattered the false existence of her and of her family. The fact that a person can  and will lie to her family for their entire life is  probably willing to lie or tell half truths about anything.

So, because of this genetic DNA thing, I felt compelled to call my mother when Heather got cancer. No,our doctor did not have the medical genetic DNA testing available to see if the blood cancer was inherited. I just knew at that moment, regardless of the circumstances, that I never wanted one of my siblings to experience what I had. I know that every time one of their kids gets sick or gets a bruise they wonder if this might be something. The fear of them actually having a child with cancer might just come true. I have no way of knowing if this came from my mother's DNA. But, blood cancer has been linked to auto immune disorders which my mother has. I have no way of knowing how Heather got two forms of blood cancer.

I am sure that my friends get tired of seeing the same posts about my mother and my feelings. The truth is that I was the one that made my mother, a mother, regardless of the fact she gave me away. I was the first to grow inside my mother, kick her and then have her labor to give birth to me. Nothing changes that fact, ever! My daughter, Heather, taught me that even death doesn't end that love between a parent and a child.The amazing thing about mothers and pregnancy is the fact that it is proven that the babies DNA or genetic material stays within the mother's body for the rest of her life. A piece of that pregnancy goes with the mother for the rest of her life. The body remembers even if the mind tries to forget. SO try as she might my mother's body won't let her forget the fact that I am her child.

I have to express my deep appreciation for messages I received from two of my sisters on Mother's Day. It is heartwarming to see that I get under your skin and irritate to the point that you have to contact me after 5-6 years with no contact. You did give me the information I desired to know; that when my mother might be dying, she did think about me. So thank you very much for that. It is good to know that there are regrets and still feelings there on my mother's part and yours; as hate and love are the same emotion just one level apart.