S1E5 Unraveling Mark

S1 E5 – Mark Hansen - Mark’s story sits at the intersection of fertility fraud, misattributed parentage, and the long-term trauma caused by secrecy. It is raw, candid, and deeply human. This episode is about truth-telling, consent, identity, and the lifelong impact of what happens when people in power make choices without it. And how you can turn your pain into power. Mark was 47 years old, sitting beside his aging father at a routine medical appointment, when everything he knew about himself changed. In the quiet of that exam room, his dad turned to him and said: “There’s something I’ve never told you...” . What followed was a revelation that reshaped every corner of his identity. Mark learned he was conceived in the 1960s through an unethical insemination procedure. With no consent. No disclosure. And no accountability.

SHOW NOTES:

In this episode, Kara and Mark talk about:

· The exact moment his raising father disclosed the truth

· What insemination practices looked like in the 1960s—and what doctors were actually doing

· How he confirmed the truth with DNA testing

· Seeing his genetic father’s face for the first time—and seeing his own staring back

· The moral obligation he felt to notify four half-sisters living just miles away

· Why secrecy, shame, and fear keep families silent for decades

· How misattributed parentage can unravel sibling relationships

· What it means to “lose” your dad twice—once in death, and once in truth

· The ripple effects on extended family, medical history, and identity

· How he rebuilt stability and self-understanding in the aftermath

Everyone has the right to know the truth about where they come from. Unraveling Me speaks to those people impacted by DNA surprises, NPEs (non-paternal event), adoption, assisted reproduction, and other revelations that their parentage isn't entirely what they thought. Having experienced an NPE herself, Kara (through Right To Know and this podcast) seeks to highlight those moments when we learn the most unsettling of secret—who we really are.

At Right To Know, we encourage engagement to facilitate and create real change. As an organization, we are inclusive. We assist adoptees, the donor-conceived community, people with an NPE, birth parents, gamete providers, new genetic family, recipient parents, raising families, and significant others. In learning and growing from each other, we must put the voices of adoptees, donor conceived, and people with an NPE first.

For more information about Right To Know - or if you have a story you want to tell - please visit us at https://righttoknow.us/.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.