Appendix A
History: Switched-at-Birth Twins
The recorded history of switched-at-birth twins includes nine cases, although there are undoubtedly more that have not come to light. Two cases involved double switches, but the Colombian brothers are the only ones that involved identical twins in both pairs and the only one in which the twins were adults when the switch became known. Exchanged female twins from Puerto Rico, involving one pair of identical twins and a pair of presumed fraternal twins, were returned to their biological families when they were eighteen months old.
Appendix B
Outtakes: Excerpts from Laura and Yaneth’s WhatsApp Conversations
Two friends, Laura and Yaneth, were dazzled by the resemblance of Jorge and William and set out to uncover the truth about their birth. Excerpts from the WhatsApp conversations between the two women are fascinating.
NOTE: The entries in these text-message exchanges have been edited slightly for clarity.
TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 9, 2014, 14:12
Yaneth Paez
Hey Laura
You know where this Jorge is from?
“the twin” of Brian’s cousin
Laura Vega Garzon
mmm
where?
where was he born?
or what specialty or floor [at the office] he is from? hahaha
Yaneth Paez
where he was born, duh!
hahahaha
duh!
Laura Vega Garzon
LOL
MMM
I have no idea
Do you want me to ask?
Yaneth Paez
I showed the photos of Jorge to William, who is Brian’s cousin and he was surprised. He showed them to Brian’s mother and to different people who know William and everyone is very surprised.
What about if they got exchanged in the clinic?
Let’s plan a reunion
hahahahah
Laura Vega Garzon
lol
yeah, it makes you want to know
Where is William from?
Get me a picture of him
Yaneth Paez
from Santander
So you can show it to Jorge?
Laura Vega Garzon
Yes, to show it to Jorge
Yaneth Paez
I am sending it to you
Done
LATER THAT DAY
Yaneth Paez
William was showing the photos to everyone in the supermarket
hahahahahahahaha
Laura Vega Garzon
yeah
So you had a picture of Jorge?
Yaneth Paez
Yes, so you see below?
Hahaha just kidding
WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 10, 2014, 9:07
Laura Vega Garzon
Hello
: -o
Yaneth Paez
Hello Laura
how are you?
Laura Vega Garzon
fine and you?
I want to call you
will they scold you at work?
or better to contact you by text?
Yaneth Paez
Maybe later
what’s up??
Laura Vega Garzon
I just finished talking with Jorge
Yaneth Paez
call me … they will not bother me
Laura Vega Garzon
haha
Yaneth Paez
ayyy nooo
What’s up??
Laura Vega Garzon
I will call you [no call; they continue to text]
Yaneth Paez
Hurry up, you have me intrigued
jijijiji
hahahah
William just wrote to me
I’m going to ask him what type of blood he has
Laura Vega Garzon
ahh
God!
: ‘(
Yaneth Paez
He does not answer
I have to wait … this is the peak time at work
hahahahaha
Laura Vega Garzon
ahhh
but do you think that William already saw the photos?
Yaneth Paez
I have not sent them to him—I will not do that
until you send me Jorge’s blood type
hahahaha
Laura Vega Garzon
hahahahah
Yaneth Paez
William is not receiving his messages.
Only one mark is being received.
hahahah
Laura Vega Garzon
ahhh
Hahaha
What agony!
Yaneth Paez
Yes
Laura Vega Garzon
And now
??
Yaneth Paez
nothing
Foolish boy
I think he is still thinking that it’s a joke, but
when William sees the photo he is going to faint.
THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 11, 2014, 8:36
Yaneth Paez
Laura
Laura Vega Garzon
Hello
Tell me
Yaneth Paez
Have you spoken to Jorge?
Laura Vega Garzon
Nooo, he has not come down to my office yet
Yaneth Paez
That “son of a mother!”
You tell what he says
Laura Vega Garzon
yes
It makes me sad to call
I’ll wait to see if he comes downstairs
Yaneth Paez
no no … yes wait
I am sure he is going to come down
Laura Vega Garzon
Yes
Yaneth Paez
To look at Carlos and Jorge … it’s like seeing William and Wilber
If they do not speak, you do not know which is which
Laura Vega Garzon
hahahaha
Yaneth Paez
seriously
Laura Vega Garzon
So cute
Laura Vega Garzon
That silly boy, Jorge! He does not come downstairs
Do we have pictures or nothing??
Yaneth Paez
Foolish boy
We have nothing right now
As soon I have the pictures I will send them your way
all right
hahahaha
William has not sent them yet
Laura Vega Garzon
And Jorge does not come down to tell me anything
Of course they forgot about us
Yaneth Paez
hahahahah
Yes
We did our work and now they abandoned us!
Laura Vega Garzon
They are like that—men after all
Yaneth Paez
Damn boys
Laura Vega Garzon
hahahaha
LATER THAT DAY, ONCE THE POSSIBLE SWITCH IS KNOWN TO ALL
Yaneth Paez
Ahh, poor them
Carlos must feel the same as William since he was probably switched, too.
Laura Vega Garzon
Yaneth Paez
But Jorge did not tell anything else?
Laura Vega Garzon
Well, some things like what you told me
Yaneth Paez
ahh … too bad. Do you think that it would have been better if we had stayed silent??
Laura Vega Garzon
noooo
Jorge is now laughing hard about it.
FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 12, 2014, 8:29
Yaneth Paez
hahahaha
William spoke with his aunt Edelmira yesterday. He wanted to talk to her to get all the information … and it seems that she was super upset
And she said that it could not be true … that she herself took back the same baby to La Paz from Bogotá.
Of course, she feels guilty …
Laura Vega Ga
rzon
Of course
She will feel that it was all her fault
What a difficult situation!
Also, we all know that it was not her fault, but
she will think that everyone is going to hate her
Yaneth Paez
Of courseeee
To tell you the truth, I am very concerned about how William’s mom Ana Delina is going to take the news
Brian told me today she is very nervous and very sensitive
Laura Vega Garzon
Ahhhh
What a worry
They need to be very careful about how to tell her the news
LATER THAT DAY
Laura Vega Garzon
Hey, then William has been celebrating the day that is not his birthday
Yaneth Paez
Yes, and the same for Carlos
Laura Vega Garzon
hahahaha
Yaneth Paez
This is like a movie
Although, at the end of the day, it does not really make much difference
Laura Vega Garzon
Well, it depends because if I called you the day after your birthday or you call me after mine, it will make a difference.
lol hahahaha
Yaneth Paez
hahaha
you are crazy
Laura Vega Garzon
yes
Well, baby, I have to get going
We will see each other on Sunday
Yaneth Paez
If anything new happens I will call you
Appendix C
Genograms: Tracking Twins Across Generations
Both sets of accidental brothers, Jorge and Carlos in Bogotá, and William and Wilber in La Paz, had histories of identical and fraternal twinning in their families. Because fraternal twins run in families, we know that fraternal twinning has a partial genetic basis. Researchers once thought that identical twinning occurs randomly, but growing evidence shows it has a genetic basis in some families. This genogram tracks twin births in the Colombian brothers’ immediate families, but even more twins were born to their extended family members.
Appendix D
Discoveries: Ability Profiles
The twins’ ability profiles can be compared in three ways: the profiles of identical twins separated at birth (twin reared apart); the profiles of unrelated brothers reared together (virtual twins); and the profiles of the unrelated individuals who replicate the virtual twins, but share neither genes nor environment (replicas). Both reared-apart twin pairs in Colombia—William and Jorge, and Carlos and Wilber—show similar “ups” and “downs” in their ability profiles with one exception each, whereas the virtual twins—William and Wilber, and Jorge and Carlos—show both similarities and differences. One set of replicas, Jorge and Wilber, is quite different in their ability profile, as expected because they share neither genes nor environment, but the other set, Carlos and William, is quite alike. However, it is impossible to draw firm conclusions from only two pairs—and, in fact, scores of twin, family, and adoption studies show genetic influence on general mental ability and ability profiles.
Appendix E
Interesting and Intriguing: Facts About Twins
Interesting and intriguing facts about twins are plentiful enough to fill an entire volume. Listed here are some of the most remarkable bits of information researchers have gathered over the years. I am still amazed that twins can have different fathers and that twins have been born in different countries.
•Identical twins make up one-third of natural twin births, and fraternal twins make up the other two-thirds.
•Benin has the highest natural twinning rate in the world: 27.9 twins per 1,000 births. Vietnam has the lowest natural twinning rate: 6.2 per 1,000 births.
•It is possible for twins to have the same mother, but different fathers, if each egg is fertilized by sperm from a different man—these twins are called superfecundated.
•Nine-banded armadillos give birth only to identical quadruplets.
•Twins can, and have, been born on different days (e.g., Monday, 11:59 p.m. and Tuesday, 00:10 a.m.), weeks (e.g., Sunday, 11:50 p.m. and Monday, 00:05 a.m.), months (e.g., October 31, 11:22 p.m. and November 1, 00:07 a.m.), and even years (e.g., December 31, 2011, 11:37 p.m. and January 1, 2012, 00:10 a.m.). The longest recorded interval between twin births is eighty-seven days—the twin’s mother went into early labor, delivering one baby, then her contractions stopped.
•Twins can, and have, been born in different bordering countries—England and Wales, and England and Scotland—when their mothers went into early labor or experienced complications.
•The longest time apart for twins raised separately from birth is seventy-eight years.
•The chance of having fraternal twins increases with maternal age, beginning at about age thirty-five and peaking at age thirty-seven. The chance of bearing fraternal twins declines when women reach their forties.
•Approximately 25 percent of identical twins are opposite-handed. These twins may show other mirror-imaging effects, such as reversal in hair whorl, dental characteristics, birthmarks, moles, and even atypical physical features such as cleft lip and palate.
•Some women who conceive twins deliver a single baby due to the vanishing twin syndrome during the first trimester of pregnancy. This may be caused by miscarriage, but also by resorption of the twin fetus by the mother, placenta, or other twin. The frequency of this event is unknown.
•Twins often use private words and gestures to communicate with each other when they are young, but they are not creating a secret language.
•The children of identical twins are genetic half-siblings as well as first cousins. Each identical twin parent becomes the genetic mother or father, as well as the aunt or uncle, of their nieces and nephews.
•Children born to identical twins who marry identical twins are equivalent to genetic full siblings.
•Quadruplets composed of two sets of identical twins, the result of the divisions of two fertilized eggs, yield four sets of fraternal twins.
•The identical twin Charlie Duke is the only twin to have walked on the moon, and he is just one of twelve people who have done so.
The original sources for this information can be found in Nancy Segal’s books, Entwined Lives, Indivisible by Two, Someone Else’s Twin, Born Together—Reared Apart, and Twin Mythconceptions.
Acknowledgments
It is a pleasure to write the acknowledgments at the close of this excursion into the lives and dreams of four such amazing young men. Jorge, William, Carlos, and Wilber experienced an extraordinary, life-changing event that brought shock, uncertainty, questioning, and ultimately resolution, not to mention a few tears. Each twin handled his unique situation with grace and understanding, enabling them to come together as a true band of brothers. Their families and friends were warm and welcoming, generously sharing their observations and reflections about an event that radically revised what they had always believed to be true.
I am thankful to my coauthor, Yesika Montoya, who alerted me to this most unusual case of switched-at-birth twins. She was a marvelous collaborator during our trip to Bogotá in 2015 and continued to be in the months that followed.
Accidental Brothers went through several early drafts en route to its final form. I completed my fifth literary venture under the keen eye of my friend and colleague Lauren Gonzalez, who provided her usual insights into the material while offering great suggestions for the versions that followed. Michael Harvkey, the best-ever online instructor from the Gotham Writers Workshop, provided superb critical advice, offline at last. My boyfriend, Professor Craig K. Ihara, who came up with the title for this book, added perspective and polish to the final and “final final” versions. Dr. Cheryl Crippen, my newest friend and psychology colleague at California State University, Fullerton, was a reviewer par excellence, and I believe she has found a new calling.
Carol Mann and her staff at the C
arol Mann Agency, especially Isabella Ruggiero, Kat Manos, and Maile Beal, were enthusiastic and dedicated throughout. I am especially grateful to Elizabeth Knoll, my former editor at Harvard University Press, for putting us in touch. Carol is responsible for getting the book to St. Martin’s Press, especially to Karen Wolny, senior editor extraordinaire. Karen’s immediate recognition of the scientific import and human interest of the twins’ story allowed her to skillfully guide me through the organization, presentation, and deep editing of the material. She did not rest until I reached the stage at which “the book writes itself,” a phase that I understand and appreciate because of her. Assistant editor Laura Apperson and senior production editor Donna Cherry at St. Martin’s Press were helpful and insightful throughout the entire process. And the publicity team of Katie Bassel, Kimberly Lew, and Laura Clark still overflows with knowledge and support.
I am indebted to Ilena Silverman, features editor, and Jake Silverstein, editor in chief, of the New York Times Magazine for appreciating the significance and uniqueness of the twins’ story when I brought it to their attention. They arranged for their staff writer, Susan Dominus, and photographers, Stefan Ruiz and Patrick Lyn, to cover our 2015 visit, resulting in the magazine’s wonderful cover story on July 12 of that year. Associate photo editor Stacey Baker was helpful in every way possible.
Francisco Bernate, an attorney, facilitated the initial contact with the twins. Dr. Juan J. Yunis, medical geneticist at Servicios Médicos Yunis Turbay y Cia in Bogotá, offered new insights into the biological and societal significance of this case. The twins’ lawyers, Carlos Eduardo Medellín Becerra, his nephew Pablo Medellín Becerra, and his daughter Adriana Medellín Cano, at the Bogotá law firm Medellín Martínez Durán Abogados, generously shared their perspectives and plans in connection with this once-in-a-lifetime case. They also allowed us the use of their beautifully appointed law offices for interviewing the twins and some family members. The interpreters Alexandra Yang and Alberto Orjuela were professional and proficient, and both developed close personal ties to the twins that continue to this day.
The staff at the Rosales Plaza Hotel was unfailingly accommodating, providing conference rooms for occasional testing, offering unlimited supplies of pens, and allowing full access to the copy machine when we desperately needed to have the twins respond to one more survey. My colleague David Gallardo-Pujol, of the University of Barcelona, forwarded several Spanish-language psychological protocols and scoring programs that facilitated the research. Yesika’s father, Hernando Montoya, arranged our visit to the Hospital Materno Infantil, and staff there and at the Hospital Regional de Vélez showed us their newborn baby facilities and variously shared information about conditions in the nursery that may have led to the switch of the twins. Yesika’s sister Alexandra Montoya, Colombia’s celebrity impersonator who is now an attorney, helped with transportation, contacts, and other aspects of our visit too numerous to name.
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