Oklahoma women who learned they had been switched at birth 55 YEARS AGO detail devastating toll the mixup has had on their lives: ‘It was like somebody took a hatchet to my heart’
- Tina Ennis and Jill Lopez, now 57, were both born at Duncan Physicians and Surgeons Hospital in Oklahoma, on May 18, 1964
- Each went home with the other’s biological parents, unbeknownst to everyone involved
- In 2019, Ennis took an Ancestry.com DNA test and was confused to see a list of relations with names she didn’t know
- The mother who raised her, Kathryn Jones, took a DNA test as well and they learned they were not related
- Ennis’ daughter tracked down Lopez, who was local and born on the same day as Ennis – and they got her to take a DNA test as well
- The results showed that Jones was Lopez’s biological mother, and the three women are now suing Duncan Regional Hospital
- Ennis’ biological parents, who raised Lopez, have both passed away, and she has voiced her upset that she will never get to meet them
Two Oklahoma women were rocked by the discovery that the mothers and father who raised them were not their biological parents — but rather, that 55 years ago, they were switched at birth at a local hospital.
Tina Ennis and Jill Lopez, now 57, first opened up about the shocking revelation last month, when they filed suit against Duncan Regional Hospital for 1964 mixup — which they only discovered in 2019 thanks to an Ancestry.com DNA test.
In an interview with Today, the two women spoke candidly about learning the truth and what it has meant for them.
Meanwhile, Katherine Jones — Lopez’s biological mother, but the mother who raised Ennis — said she was ‘totally devastated’ by the discovery, describing it as if ‘somebody took a hatchet’ to her heart.
‘There’s so many people involved,’ Ennis added. ‘It’s not just me and Jill. It’s two entire families.’
Two women who learned from an Ancestry.com DNA test that they were switched at birth in 1964 are suing an Oklahoma hospital for the damaging mixup (Tina Ennis pictured left, Jill Lopez pictured right)
Ennis (right) and the mother who raised her, Kathryn Jones (left), spoke about the devastating mixup on the Today show
Jones recalls thinking Ennis was a beautiful baby when she arrived at Duncan Physicians and Surgeons Hospital on May 18, 1964
Jones recalls thinking Ennis was a beautiful baby when she arrived at Duncan Physicians and Surgeons Hospital on May 18, 1964.
Ennis remembers a happy childhood, but also said she noticed that she didn’t look quite like the rest of her family.
‘I looked at a picture one day, and it was my two sisters and my mom and me and I couldn’t find anything on any of those faces that looked like me,’ she said. ‘There was like no resemblance.’
But Jones insisted she looked just like the man they believed was her biological dad, who had left when she was two.
Jones’ father had also left when she was a child, and in 2019, Ennis took a DNA test to try to learn more about her grandfather.
But she was confused when the results came back, and her list of DNA relatives had names she didn’t know — including Brister.
Jones didn’t know the names either, so Ennis got her to take a DNA test as well.
‘Ours didn’t match up,’ Ennis said.
Ennis’ 26-year-old daughter floated the idea that she was switched at birth and began digging online, looking up the names that did come up in Ennis’ Ancestry.com relationships.
She managed to find a woman nearby who was born on the same day — and, remarkably, looked a lot like Jones.
‘I thought it looked just like my mother,’ Ennis said.
That woman was Lopez, whom Ennis soon sent her a message, convincing her to take a DNA test as well.
It came back with Jones as a match for her mother.
‘All I could think about was how I was going to tell my mom,’ Ennis said, tearing up. ‘I just thought she’s not going to be able to handle it. That’s what I thought about.’
Jones was heartbroken.
‘It just devastated me. Totally devastated me,’ she said.
Ennis’ 26-year-old daughter found a woman nearby who was born on the same day – and, remarkably, looked a lot like Jones (Lopez pictured as a child)
‘It’s a hard thing to know what to do, you know, because there’s no books to buy [to] get you through it,’ Lopez said
Unfortunately, Ennis’ biological parents, Joyce and John Brister, have died
‘She was afraid she was going to lose me,’ Ennis said. ‘And she wasn’t going to. I wasn’t going to leave her.’
‘I could not lose Tina. She’ll always be my daughter,’ Jones added. ‘I have loved her from the second they laid her in my arms.’
Since they learned of the switch, Lopez and Jones have gotten to know each other, learning they have a shared love of purple, shopping, and estate sales.
Unfortunately, Ennis’ biological parents, Joyce and John Brister, have died.
‘It’s a hard thing to know what to do, you know, because there’s no books to buy [to] get you through it,’ Lopez said.
Now Ennis, Lopez, and Jones are suing Duncan Regional Hospital (which merged with Duncan Physicians and Surgeons Hospital in 1975) for recklessness and negligent infliction of emotional distress.
The hospital is fighting back, claiming that though it merged with the hospital where the two women were born, it is not the same one and is therefore not responsible.
Jones – Lopez’s biological mother, but the mother who raised Ennis – said she was ‘totally devastated’ by the discovery, describing it as if ‘somebody took a hatchet’ to her heart
Ennis (back left) has not gotten to meet her biological parents, but Jones (bottom left) has had a chance to get to know Lopez
Ennis, Lopez (left), and Jones (right) are suing Duncan Regional Hospital (which merged with Duncan Physicians and Surgeons Hospital in 1975) for recklessness and negligent infliction of emotional distress
The women previously spoke to the Daily Beast about the ordeal, with Ennis describing the terrible moment she realized the truth.
‘My heart just sank [in that moment] because I was just like, “This is for real,”‘ she said.
Jones didn’t want to believe it at first, but when she saw a photo of Lopez, who works selling real estate, she initially thought it was an old photo of herself.
‘Because she actually looked just like me,’ Jones said. ‘And it devastated me.’
Jones said one of the worst parts of the discovery was realizing that her grandchildren were not biologically hers, either.
‘It was like somebody had ripped out a part of my heart,’ Jones said. ‘I just couldn’t deal with it.’
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