How would you feel if a major reason for your existence in the world, possibly the primary reason for your conception, was to act as a genetically gauranteed donor to cure your older sibling of a disease?

Kind of weird to think about.

Sure, this kind of thing has been done for years, just without the benefit of Gattaca-style genetic screening to ensure a compatibility match, but it was a far more private matter. With the news stories surrounding these more recent children, how might they feel if somewhere down the line, when they’re old enough to understand, what if they somehow find out that they are one of these kids?

“Well, we weren’t planning on having another child, but then your brother got sick….”

Better or worse than finding out you’re adopted?

What if there was any favoritism — real or perceived — in how the two children were treated before this aspect was discovered? If the older child (the recipient) was seen as the “favorite”, how much could that affect the younger child’s perception of themself? Or if the younger was perceived as the “favorite”?

That could easily be enough to screw you up for a long, long time.

iTunes: “That Was the Day” by The The from the album Solitude (1993, 4:00).

[See also: Why the genealogy bug? | Requested: Penguins and Monkeys | Cameras in classrooms | diveintocrappyteenagepoetry.org | Happy Birthday Royce! ]

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