May 5, 2022 • 30 mins
SMNTY teams up with 23andMe to explore how women can empower themselves by learning about their genetics both in understanding the past and arming themselves with knowledge for a better future. In this special episode, Samantha reflects on her search for her identity and the power of information when it comes to health.
If you like this episode, check out more from the 22 other creators who are also part of this journey.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:03):
Have you ever thought about how incredibly complex I spit is.
It may only be water, but just aliva isn't simple.
That remaining one percent holds incredibly meaningful information that could
change everything. And I'm not just talking about your family
treat Hi. I'm barrittun Day Thurston and on this season
(00:24):
of Spit and I Heart Radio Podcast with twenty three
and Me, we explore how DNA isn't just about ancestry,
it can also be key to understanding your health. Yo,
it's baratun Day, Welcome back. Samantha McVeigh and Annie Reese
are no strangers to tackling the tough questions. Their show
(00:46):
stuff Mom Never Told You is a wildly successful go
to for conversations on what it is to identify as
female and with research based discussions around feminism and how
it impacts everyday life. It's no wonder they have an
audience the size of a small country. So for this episode,
I was especially interested in how they would tackle the
question of health and DNA and how our genetic makeup
(01:08):
not only holds the keys to our past, but can
reveal certain health insights that may impact our future as
an adoptee, especially a transracial adoptee. Samantha shares how it's
not unusual to seek out more information about one's biological family,
but to date, information about her health history has remained
a mystery. She's taken the twenty three and ME health test,
(01:31):
and she's both excited and anxious, all while recognizing the
need for a strong support system, as this can be
an emotionally triggering experience for many. Samantha's approach to preparing
herself for the test, it's extremely important, especially given her
personal history. As she herself acknowledges, it's also very empowering
(01:53):
to have control over your own information, with the choice
to learn as much or as little as you like.
That's the benefit of this experience. It's about you. It's
up to you. Your DNA may be unbelievably small, but
it's incredibly powerful. Samantha shares how mildly surprised she is
by what she learns, but more importantly, how the experience
(02:15):
has been giving her a lot to think about. Let's
listen as Samantha shares her journey of discovery and how
by learning more she feels like she's winning. Check it out, Hey,
this is Annie and Samantha, I'm not going to Stephane
(02:37):
never told your protection of I Heart Radio, and this
episode is gonna be a little different. Just so you know,
this episode is sponsored by three and Me and as
always when it comes to companies and programs like these,
(02:58):
make sure you're reading the fine rent, know your options
and your rights, and keep informed. Yes, definitely, I think
that's a good take on all the things, as I'm
signing many of papers right now for many other things.
But yes, I know your rights and things do change,
so understand your rights, keep informed and updating it on
all of it. Yes, that's the first morning. We also
(03:20):
have a content morning, mentions of childhood trauma and overall
discussions of health and wellness. It's uh, we're not gonna
go too deep into them. But yes, I'm getting really
personal y'all. So thank you Andie for giving me the space.
Oh no, thanks for being open with us. All right,
here we go. Yeah, so it is a fairly special
and uh, fairly personal episode. Again, this is what we do, right.
(03:46):
I feel comfortable, you feel comfortable and sharing these things
with our people's Yes, perhaps too comfortable. Something. We just
let it all out and you'll are still so patient
with us, so thank you. But we are taking a
moment to look into our own health traits and DNA
specifically mine. But again, before we talk about some of
(04:07):
the information, let's talk about how we got ready for
this episode. And I say we because Annie was absolutely
pivotal to me going should I do this? Do you
think I'm mentally healthy enough to do this? And will
you support me? Yes? Yes, I hope you know listeners,
Smith and I are legit friends, um, and we do
look out for each other, and we do take that
(04:30):
seriously because we know that, you know, you can really
do yourself some harm in this kind of medium when
you're you're being so open and you're digging up these things. Um.
And our very first thing that we started out doing
was this mini series on trauma, right, and we hadn't
like our check ins and making sure like both of
us are okay and that we're not doing ourselves harm
(04:54):
um by being open with this. So this it was
very important to me, and because I knew you were
interested in it, and I know you'll talk about why
uh in a minute, but it was very important to
me to be like, Okay, if you're gonna do this,
what is our game plan, whatever we're gonna do to
make sure that this is going to be a healthy,
non traumatizing experience for you. And yeah, as in fact,
(05:14):
when I would take the test and send it off,
we would do a check in with each other. When
I got the results, we did a check in, and
then you checked in again with me about a day later,
like how are you. I don't even know if it
was day later, like a few hours later, and how
are you? And I think that's really important for us
to talk about because many of you already know when
it comes to my identity, I have a lot of
(05:35):
trauma surrounding it. As in fact, that was part of
my therapy session I had when we did our Trauma
mini series when I started on this podcast. And it's
not unusual for adoptees, especially transracial adoptees, to seek out
more information of their biological family um and there's a
lot of abandonment and attachment issues that come along with it.
(05:56):
And with the advancements of these types of results and companies,
people are able to dig a little bit for information
when it comes to their ancestry, their family and possible
health traits. We've talked about personal experiences previously when we
talked with author Nicole Chung about her memoir all we
can ever know and even for myself, a part of
(06:17):
that journey has to include protecting my mental and emotional health.
And uh, we all know therapy is something we talk
about a lot on here and also to go ahead
and put this caveat therapy is a privilege, but it
is important to stee get out if you can, UM.
And also finding a good therapist and finding a therapist
(06:40):
that you specializes in what you need very very important,
very important, UM. And I will tell you I did
choose a therapist. If you all remember when we did
our Trauma Many series, that was one of the big
things that we started out with as well, that both
Annie and I would have therapeutic sessions so that we
could discuss the really heavy topics that we were talking
(07:02):
about at that point in time. And any I think
you're still talking to that therapist, correct, M. Yes, we
loved her, and uh, I stepped back a little bit
because I got too busy, I didn't have enough money
all those things. So I came back UM and researched
a new therapist whom I found through the world of interwebs. Um,
(07:23):
who is actually a transnational adoptee herself, so I'm very
glad to hear this, and she specializes in childhood trauma,
is a woman of color. I believe she's Korean as well,
so all of these check marks that I found. We
had a beginning session and we had a phone conversation UM,
and everything is fit and aligned, and it was really
nice and different to have a moment to be able
(07:44):
to talk about my identity issues and her to fully
understand and to kind of call it out because a
lot of the times I've had many therapists who would
be like, oh man, that's hard, how did you react
to that? Try to figure out how to respond to me?
And because she kind of understood, she knew how to
So it was really interesting or refreshing. And it's a
(08:05):
whole new turn for me because I've not had uh
an Asian woman being my therapists. I've had a black woman,
and then I've had a lot of white women who
are my therapist, and so this is this is definitely
a different experience and UM, I'm interested to see how
far we can go. But yeah, we're gonna be doing
a lot of unpacking and trauma work. But I did
(08:26):
also let her know the very beginning, Hey, I'm doing
a thing with DNA reports, and I know this could
be triggering for me because there's a lot of what
ifs in my head that I've been able to kind
of ignore, but with these I it gives me a
way to research deeper. So we talked about that and
(08:47):
why we're doing this. Yeah, I'm very curious, and I
was very curious. But also with that, I knew that
I had trauma and triggers and I needed to recognize
those as well. And I the reason we wanted to
talk about this, And you're the one who came to
and that thinkes sent me an article talking about how
it can be traumatizing to discover new information. Yes, so
(09:10):
that can come from this types of reports, and I
was very grateful, like, oh dang, yeah that's true. And
so we wanted to talk about and highlight that it
is important to put yourself in a good place m hm,
so that it doesn't break you down right right and
where you know, as we've been saying, we're very big
(09:30):
proponents of that because I think for a lot of
people they might not consider that aspects of of getting
a DNA report. And it's not like more information is good,
but just being prepared that there could be things that
you find out or that possibly possibilities that you're made
aware of that maybe you weren't prepared for and maybe
(09:54):
it can be maybe it would be something that's sharing
for you. So just like making sure, yes, you're in
that good place, so you've got a plan in place,
you got a friend to support you or have your back,
because you know, we're all about supporting women, supporting women
and being there for each other um and we also
are just very aware of like potential triggers and traumas.
(10:16):
On the show, I feel like we talked about it
quite often, right, and it's important because we've experienced it,
and sometimes having a name for what you're going through
without realizing it is nice to be like, oh again,
because I do recognize my triggers, I'm able to prepare
so big events and discoveries can undo some things for me.
And therefore being able to recognize like the physical tills,
(10:39):
it's really important to prepare. And I say prepare in
the big ways, but yeah, information like this can give
you a chance to take control of a few things,
whether you're made aware of things, um, how you proceed
with things, just overall life things. I guess for me specifically, um,
and we're gonna talk a little more about it in
(11:01):
a second. But I made some headway and discovering a
little history about my past, including getting in contact with
possible family members, distant relatives possibly, so a lot of
things and that could be traumatizing, especially for me. Yes, yes, yes,
that's what we know. But yeah, so that's a way
(11:21):
that I did want to prepare and would tell people
who are doing these types of reports, uh, to to
be aware uh of your triggers and and be having
a plan in place, whether it's to go to a
supportive friend, taking breaks, taking naps because I love naps.
Stuff like that is really important, y'all. It's uh. I
(11:56):
did get my report and going through it it kind
of made me laugh, and go through it kind of
made me laugh again. Like I said, I've been interested
to learn about my background, about digging into what can
be emotionally taxing, but you know, I wanted to find
out a little more, get some healthy information, um, and
get a kind of a start of some of the
(12:17):
things that I had no clue, so I have no
access to you all know. I am a Korean adoptee.
Came into the U S when I was seven, lived
in an orphanage for two to three years. I don't
have a lot of information other than the information that
was brought with me and given to my parents. I
can't even remember the orphanage I was in. I'm sure
my parents have that information. I was adopted through Whold International,
(12:39):
and Whole International is the biggest adoption agency within Korea,
as in fact, a majority of people probably were adopted
through Holt International. And just for a little history on
who Hold International Services were, it was created by Bertha
and Harry Holt, who actually adopted eight what they call
war orphans themselves. So during this time, there are a
(13:01):
lot of children out in the streets, as historically said,
because they were by racial usually white soldiers with Korean women,
and that brought a lot of shame. There's a lot
of factors to this um and so you saw a
lot of orphaned young kids, young children, and they adopted
eight and from that it kind of just grew into
a large service that grew internationally. A huge amount of
(13:26):
adoptees went to Norway, did Mark, Belgium, the Netherlands, France, Switzerland,
and Germany, and eventually into the US. We know, a
lot of Western Christianity and religion kind of popped into
play as well. And it was during this time up
until I would say the nineteen nineties, that international adoption
like that, transracial adoption like that, was huge, and from
(13:48):
what I gathered, was a pretty big money market for
South Korea. Of course, there's a lot of backlash now
there's a bigger conversation about that and and the trauma
that it has caused. There's also this idea that a
majority of the adoptees were young girls or girls or
baby girls because the lineage and um the patriarch essentially
(14:09):
kind of trumps matriarchal lines and apparently can't be as
traced when it comes to legacies and inheritances and such,
so hold all these things. Apparently there was this whole
print in what was called the Pound Pup Legacy that
was written in The Progressive, which was an article I
think based in South Korea, talking about a lot of
(14:31):
the effects and everything that happened, even talking about there
was a city supply of healthy children being shipped to
these different these different countries. There's also the same conversation
and we've talked about it before when we talked about surrogacy,
where women were told that they were just going to
be cared for at these orphanages and then kind of
(14:51):
tricked into sighting over rights. So there's a lot of conversation.
I know we've heard that with Nicole Chung. She had
a little conversation about how not everyone was informed on
what happened, and that happened a lot in in these
kind of agencies. They're trying to do a lot more
transparency when it comes to adoptions, but still a lot
of questions, uh, and a lot of things that had
(15:13):
happened in the past where people can't reconnect. I will
say I believe Wholt International had a service for adopted
because who grow up and want to find out about
their families and having them travel back to South Korea.
I don't have a distinct memory when I was in
the orphanage of an older woman, a young woman coming
back with her adopted parents to visit the orphanage and
kind of looking back on her history. So that was interesting.
(15:36):
I have very little memories. I remember her showing up
and everybody being very excited about that. Within that culture
also was a really kind of sad uh which that
I kind of believed is that whole like these girls,
if they weren't adopted, they would go into prostitution. That
was the immediate reaction. And so we were being saved
(15:56):
from a world of prostitution, and not that that couldn't happen,
but it was such a cautionary tale that was told
to white Americans to save children that it became a
whole persona And for me, I grew up hearing that, like,
be grateful, be grateful because you could have lasted this way.
And don't get me wrong, in that orphanage, I remember
(16:18):
a lot of young girls who are aging out, kind
of a lot like the foster system here in the US.
They were just aging out and no one was helping them.
The government wasn't helping them, the people were not connecting
people with them. Of course, it could be also that
you know, these young kids have been traumatized in the
system and just want to be out, and so they
try to rush out. So it was very interesting to
(16:39):
look at that history. But with that type of history
that also means things get lost in translation, so we
would lose a lot of records. I was told that
I did have chickenpox vaccine, that I actually did have
measles at one point in time, um, and that that
was about it, and like, and I was told that
my parents were divorced, um and I was not allowed
(17:02):
to live with my stepfather, so they gave me to
my grandmother because my stepfather, my real biological father, was
not able to care for me. And then after that
she took me to the orphanage because she couldn't care
for me either. So those are the things that I
remember distinctly as being told my history. But outside of that,
(17:22):
I don't have anything. I don't know. I have a
picture of what I thought was my brother, but again
I have in and out dreams that are not necessarily true.
All these things um that came with me. So having
this kind of breakdown was interesting. So let me talk
about that, because now that I'm giving you the sad
history of adoption in my life, and everybody want to
(17:43):
thinking about that. So according to my twenty three and
me ancestry composition report, I am one that Korean or
at least very highly likely, and according to the rundown
of the report. It really says Korean. So I don't
know if you've been able to look at these reports
or view these reports. It has kind of a color
(18:06):
wheel and it tells you kind of the breakdown of
ancestry or DNA right down. Of course, it changes apparently
with more and more people get reports or take on
the twenty three and me and actually sit in their
kit um. So the overall breakdown was interesting and made
me take a deeper look at my own history. So
the way it breaks down, it shows me the different
(18:29):
administrative regions. So it says, quote, South Korea has sixteen
administrative regions, and we found the strongest evidence of your
ancestry in the following nine regions. So the top five
is one is Soul, second is three is Jella num Do,
and then four's Bussan, and then and then five is Chon.
(18:50):
So it's really interesting. I didn't like reading these, and
now I want to go and research it more because
those regions are not so of course I know Soul,
I'll so no Busan. I was told Signam City and
I think that's in the region of Soul, so I'm
interested in seeing that to be able to see those
regions um as well. And like I said, I did
(19:11):
try to contact someone who's like fifth removed cousin because
I found out they were adopted as well, and they
live in the States. So there's a chunk of people
that live in the States. And several of the people
that I went through that had connections or it shows
as possible relatives for me that has that list. Uh,
several of them were adopted, so that says a lot
to me. And I didn't understand the history behind that,
(19:33):
and I want to learn more because I'm like, wow, uh,
this seems to be so common. I wonder why. And
so there's a whole breakdown. Of course, I also did
my cyberstalking and went through like Facebook trying to find them.
Instagram LinkedIn was a big one, um, But I just
reached out to the one person because it turned out
she and I had been adopted the same year and
(19:54):
I really kind of wanted to see if we could connect.
Haven't made it beyond that other than we shared each
other like as in like we confirmed and I guess
you can friend them. It's the best way I can
think of it. As like in Facebook, you can friend
them and so I don't know, we'll see, but it's
there and there's an option there, and it was nice
to know that I had an option with that. So listeners,
(20:18):
if I go beyond, I'll let you know, yes. But
uh so, moving on, we want to talk about the
help and Trades reports. And I didn't know it exactly
to expect since my background and my ancestry is a
big mystery for me. But looking through the reports, I
was my oldly surprised. Um. And just for reference, in
the in the reports, the way it's phrased, when you
(20:39):
see it, it's it is quote variants not detected, typical likelihood,
slightly increased risk, and increased likelihood, So that's kind of
how they report it. So in my report, type two
diabetes was at an increased likelihood with it being at range,
so it gives you kind of a range of compared
to other how likely, and also states with it that
(21:04):
overall it can depend on different factors, which is always
important to remember because for me, I get my yearly
physical exam with the blood words. Of course that helps
our insured stuff. Um, and I know that I'm in
a good place right now. We will definitely have to
keep a close watch on it because things change and
your age and that all factors in as well. Yes,
(21:39):
And it's also worth noting that according to the c
d C for women, quote, diabetes increases the risk of
heart disease, the most common diabetes complication, by about four times,
and women but only about two times. And men and
women are also at a higher risk of other diabetes
related complications such as blindness, kidney disease, and depression. Right.
(22:00):
And I didn't actually know the statistics until after I
started my research. I was like, Okay, let's see what
this is about. I wanted to dig deeper and just
being able to get and attain this information as good
and I was like, oh wow, I didn't I didn't
know that women were higher risk. I feel like there's
other factors that I wanted to talk about in that,
but you know, we'll get to that later. Um. And again,
(22:20):
it also says in the City City Report that it's
quote different among women African American, Hispanic, Latina, American, Indian,
Alaska Native, and Asian Pacific Islander women are more likely
to have diabetes than white women, which, of course, being
an Asian woman, that's good for me to know. Yes, yes,
indeed yeah. UM. Also in that increased likelihood category was
(22:43):
coronary artery disease, which Smithy has talked about before as
it can present differently in women UM than men. But
also starting to remember according to the CDC quote heart
diseases sometimes thought of as a man's disease. Almost as
many women as men die each year of heart disease
in the United States. UM. And not knowing my history,
that is something that I definitely want to keep in check.
(23:05):
And I'm glad to know of this because right now, again,
everything was great with my blood work this year, but
things changed swiftly. Things change, and when it comes to
health wise, so I want to know these things and
so being able to be informed of that feels like
I'm winning. I don't know. And for many the b
(23:30):
r C A one or the breast cancer gene and
b r C A two can be alarming as it
stays on the twenty three Many reports UH specific genetic
variants and the b r C A one and b
r C A two genes are associated with increased risks
of developing certain cancers, including breast cancer in women and
men and ovarian cancer. And also they do have a
(23:52):
great disclaimer about this, and I don't I do want
to read it off. The twenty three and me b
r C A one and b r C A two
Genetic Health Risk Report is intended for use and adults
to report three genetic variants in the b r C
A one and b r C A two genes associated
with a higher risk of developing breast of variant and
prospect cancer. Report does not include variants and other genes
(24:14):
linked to hereditary cancers. Not intended to diagnose any disease
or tell you about your overall risk of developing a disease.
Not intended to be used to determine any treatments, and
results should be confirmed in clinical settings before taking any
medical action. And it's not a substitute for visits to
healthcare professionals for recommended screens or appropriate follow up, which
(24:36):
I think is really really crucial to know. Again, this
is not a tool for you to just bank your
decisions on, but just the way for you to be like,
let me go check this out and get more information.
I think it's smart for any and all of these
traits being reported, even though it's a likelihood that yes,
(24:57):
I still will go and check it out with a doctor,
just as that reminder for me myself. The report showed
zero variants detected, but again a good reminder from the report. However,
more than a thousand variants in the b r C
A one and b r C A two genes are
known to increase cancer risk, so you can still have
a variant not included in this test. In addition, most
(25:18):
cases of breast and A variant cancers are not caused
by inherited variants, so women without a variant are still
at risk of developing these cancers. Is important to continue
with any cancer screenings your healthcare provider recommends. And yes,
I will absolutely be going to my screenings. What it
is time to squish the boobies. That's how I see it.
As they say the technical term, I'm pretty sure yes,
(25:42):
And as you said, I think, you know, being informed
and getting that more information and being clear on what
that information means is so key. My family does have
a history of breast cancer, so the women in our
family especially are always make sure you get tested, make
sure you do this, and make sure you check for this,
(26:03):
and kind of having that in the back of my
mind that it is something that I needed to keep
an eye on and I think that is incredibly important,
as we all should. So these were some of the
hell things that we did want to talk about and
that came up when I did get my report. But
there's some other interesting things I note from this report,
(26:23):
the wellness report in the case that I am likely
to flush as an alcohol flush reaction. So uh, this
is not news to me, as I discovered this when
I first started drinking, and I was like, WHOA, what
is happening? And I had to research about what was happening,
and I was like, this is this is really mean
(26:45):
of my genetics to tell on me. So I was like, okay,
they okay, this one's okay. And then the next one
was a muscle composition. So it's common in elite power athletes.
I really wish someone would let my muscles know that
this is supposedly something that is a trait. And the
report states quote studies have found that almost all elite
(27:06):
power athletes, including sprinters, throwers, and jumpers, have a specific
genetic variant in a gene related to muscle composition. You
have the same genetic variant as these athletes. That is
not obvious to me, and I'm very sad that I
can't say that's obvious to me. I really wish it were,
but I was like, I'm just gonna glowed about it anyway,
(27:28):
even though it's not physically seeing here um And according
to the Trades Report, I am quote more likely to
be able to match a musical pitch, more likely than
average to have had a bunyan, more likely than average
to be afraid of heights. It is very true, likely
bitten by mosquitoes more often than others. This explains a
(27:50):
lot between you and I any and likely to wake
up around seven a m. I have not put that
to the test, but I kind of want to check
and see if I feel better for some reason. But
you know whatever, I thought, those are all very interesting.
They're very specific, and I want to know more. And
they all made me laugh a little bit and giggle
a little bit. And also it makes me feel superior
to have said I may have had a buncheon more
(28:11):
before you. That makes you feel worse, you know, So
there you go. This has given me a lot to
think about. It has been really interesting to read and
has led me to do some more research for the
sake of my health and my ancestry and I'm glad
to have had this information on hand. And yeah, yeah,
(28:32):
I keep digging and as in fact, I got a
new alert from twenty three and me and saying that, hey,
here's another trait you might not know about. So it
keeps updating, I believe, as it continues with other kids
being sent in. So I'll keep you informed of anything new. Yes,
please do and thank you for sharing this with us,
(28:55):
letting me oh so much love, so much love on
this show. Well, listeners, if you have any thoughts about
what we talked about today, you can always email us.
You know we'd love to hear from you. Our emails
Stuff Media mom Stuff at ihart video dot com. You
can find us on Twitter at mom Stuff podcast or
on Instagram as stuff I Never Told You. Thanks as
always to our super producer Christina. Thank you Christina, and
(29:18):
thanks to you for listening Stuff I Never Told You.
Protection of I Heart Radio for more podcast on my
Heart Radio because the heart Radio app, Apple Podcast or
revery listen to your favorite shows and that's it on
(29:38):
another dope show. Did this episode inspire you to take
a closer look at your health history, your genetic makeup,
Who new DNA could reveal so much about our past,
while also holding the keys to certain health insights that
may impact our future. I continue to be inspired by
these stories, and I hope you do as well. Catch
you next time. Listen to Spit, an original podcast from
(30:03):
I Heart Radio and twenty three in the on the
I Heart Radio app, Apple podcast, or wherever you get
your podcast. H
Have you ever thought about how incredibly complex I spit is.
It may only be water, but just aliva isn't simple.
That remaining one percent holds incredibly meaningful information that could
change everything. And I'm not just talking about your family
treat Hi. I'm barrittun Day Thurston and on this season
(00:24):
of Spit and I Heart Radio Podcast with twenty three
and Me, we explore how DNA isn't just about ancestry,
it can also be key to understanding your health. Yo,
it's baratun Day, Welcome back. Samantha McVeigh and Annie Reese
are no strangers to tackling the tough questions. Their show
(00:46):
stuff Mom Never Told You is a wildly successful go
to for conversations on what it is to identify as
female and with research based discussions around feminism and how
it impacts everyday life. It's no wonder they have an
audience the size of a small country. So for this episode,
I was especially interested in how they would tackle the
question of health and DNA and how our genetic makeup
(01:08):
not only holds the keys to our past, but can
reveal certain health insights that may impact our future as
an adoptee, especially a transracial adoptee. Samantha shares how it's
not unusual to seek out more information about one's biological family,
but to date, information about her health history has remained
a mystery. She's taken the twenty three and ME health test,
(01:31):
and she's both excited and anxious, all while recognizing the
need for a strong support system, as this can be
an emotionally triggering experience for many. Samantha's approach to preparing
herself for the test, it's extremely important, especially given her
personal history. As she herself acknowledges, it's also very empowering
(01:53):
to have control over your own information, with the choice
to learn as much or as little as you like.
That's the benefit of this experience. It's about you. It's
up to you. Your DNA may be unbelievably small, but
it's incredibly powerful. Samantha shares how mildly surprised she is
by what she learns, but more importantly, how the experience
(02:15):
has been giving her a lot to think about. Let's
listen as Samantha shares her journey of discovery and how
by learning more she feels like she's winning. Check it out, Hey,
this is Annie and Samantha, I'm not going to Stephane
(02:37):
never told your protection of I Heart Radio, and this
episode is gonna be a little different. Just so you know,
this episode is sponsored by three and Me and as
always when it comes to companies and programs like these,
(02:58):
make sure you're reading the fine rent, know your options
and your rights, and keep informed. Yes, definitely, I think
that's a good take on all the things, as I'm
signing many of papers right now for many other things.
But yes, I know your rights and things do change,
so understand your rights, keep informed and updating it on
all of it. Yes, that's the first morning. We also
(03:20):
have a content morning, mentions of childhood trauma and overall
discussions of health and wellness. It's uh, we're not gonna
go too deep into them. But yes, I'm getting really
personal y'all. So thank you Andie for giving me the space.
Oh no, thanks for being open with us. All right,
here we go. Yeah, so it is a fairly special
and uh, fairly personal episode. Again, this is what we do, right.
(03:46):
I feel comfortable, you feel comfortable and sharing these things
with our people's Yes, perhaps too comfortable. Something. We just
let it all out and you'll are still so patient
with us, so thank you. But we are taking a
moment to look into our own health traits and DNA
specifically mine. But again, before we talk about some of
(04:07):
the information, let's talk about how we got ready for
this episode. And I say we because Annie was absolutely
pivotal to me going should I do this? Do you
think I'm mentally healthy enough to do this? And will
you support me? Yes? Yes, I hope you know listeners,
Smith and I are legit friends, um, and we do
look out for each other, and we do take that
(04:30):
seriously because we know that, you know, you can really
do yourself some harm in this kind of medium when
you're you're being so open and you're digging up these things. Um.
And our very first thing that we started out doing
was this mini series on trauma, right, and we hadn't
like our check ins and making sure like both of
us are okay and that we're not doing ourselves harm
(04:54):
um by being open with this. So this it was
very important to me, and because I knew you were
interested in it, and I know you'll talk about why
uh in a minute, but it was very important to
me to be like, Okay, if you're gonna do this,
what is our game plan, whatever we're gonna do to
make sure that this is going to be a healthy,
non traumatizing experience for you. And yeah, as in fact,
(05:14):
when I would take the test and send it off,
we would do a check in with each other. When
I got the results, we did a check in, and
then you checked in again with me about a day later,
like how are you. I don't even know if it
was day later, like a few hours later, and how
are you? And I think that's really important for us
to talk about because many of you already know when
it comes to my identity, I have a lot of
(05:35):
trauma surrounding it. As in fact, that was part of
my therapy session I had when we did our Trauma
mini series when I started on this podcast. And it's
not unusual for adoptees, especially transracial adoptees, to seek out
more information of their biological family um and there's a
lot of abandonment and attachment issues that come along with it.
(05:56):
And with the advancements of these types of results and companies,
people are able to dig a little bit for information
when it comes to their ancestry, their family and possible
health traits. We've talked about personal experiences previously when we
talked with author Nicole Chung about her memoir all we
can ever know and even for myself, a part of
(06:17):
that journey has to include protecting my mental and emotional health.
And uh, we all know therapy is something we talk
about a lot on here and also to go ahead
and put this caveat therapy is a privilege, but it
is important to stee get out if you can, UM.
And also finding a good therapist and finding a therapist
(06:40):
that you specializes in what you need very very important,
very important, UM. And I will tell you I did
choose a therapist. If you all remember when we did
our Trauma Many series, that was one of the big
things that we started out with as well, that both
Annie and I would have therapeutic sessions so that we
could discuss the really heavy topics that we were talking
(07:02):
about at that point in time. And any I think
you're still talking to that therapist, correct, M. Yes, we
loved her, and uh, I stepped back a little bit
because I got too busy, I didn't have enough money
all those things. So I came back UM and researched
a new therapist whom I found through the world of interwebs. Um,
(07:23):
who is actually a transnational adoptee herself, so I'm very
glad to hear this, and she specializes in childhood trauma,
is a woman of color. I believe she's Korean as well,
so all of these check marks that I found. We
had a beginning session and we had a phone conversation UM,
and everything is fit and aligned, and it was really
nice and different to have a moment to be able
(07:44):
to talk about my identity issues and her to fully
understand and to kind of call it out because a
lot of the times I've had many therapists who would
be like, oh man, that's hard, how did you react
to that? Try to figure out how to respond to me?
And because she kind of understood, she knew how to
So it was really interesting or refreshing. And it's a
(08:05):
whole new turn for me because I've not had uh
an Asian woman being my therapists. I've had a black woman,
and then I've had a lot of white women who
are my therapist, and so this is this is definitely
a different experience and UM, I'm interested to see how
far we can go. But yeah, we're gonna be doing
a lot of unpacking and trauma work. But I did
(08:26):
also let her know the very beginning, Hey, I'm doing
a thing with DNA reports, and I know this could
be triggering for me because there's a lot of what
ifs in my head that I've been able to kind
of ignore, but with these I it gives me a
way to research deeper. So we talked about that and
(08:47):
why we're doing this. Yeah, I'm very curious, and I
was very curious. But also with that, I knew that
I had trauma and triggers and I needed to recognize
those as well. And I the reason we wanted to
talk about this, And you're the one who came to
and that thinkes sent me an article talking about how
it can be traumatizing to discover new information. Yes, so
(09:10):
that can come from this types of reports, and I
was very grateful, like, oh dang, yeah that's true. And
so we wanted to talk about and highlight that it
is important to put yourself in a good place m hm,
so that it doesn't break you down right right and
where you know, as we've been saying, we're very big
(09:30):
proponents of that because I think for a lot of
people they might not consider that aspects of of getting
a DNA report. And it's not like more information is good,
but just being prepared that there could be things that
you find out or that possibly possibilities that you're made
aware of that maybe you weren't prepared for and maybe
(09:54):
it can be maybe it would be something that's sharing
for you. So just like making sure, yes, you're in
that good place, so you've got a plan in place,
you got a friend to support you or have your back,
because you know, we're all about supporting women, supporting women
and being there for each other um and we also
are just very aware of like potential triggers and traumas.
(10:16):
On the show, I feel like we talked about it
quite often, right, and it's important because we've experienced it,
and sometimes having a name for what you're going through
without realizing it is nice to be like, oh again,
because I do recognize my triggers, I'm able to prepare
so big events and discoveries can undo some things for me.
And therefore being able to recognize like the physical tills,
(10:39):
it's really important to prepare. And I say prepare in
the big ways, but yeah, information like this can give
you a chance to take control of a few things,
whether you're made aware of things, um, how you proceed
with things, just overall life things. I guess for me specifically, um,
and we're gonna talk a little more about it in
(11:01):
a second. But I made some headway and discovering a
little history about my past, including getting in contact with
possible family members, distant relatives possibly, so a lot of
things and that could be traumatizing, especially for me. Yes, yes, yes,
that's what we know. But yeah, so that's a way
(11:21):
that I did want to prepare and would tell people
who are doing these types of reports, uh, to to
be aware uh of your triggers and and be having
a plan in place, whether it's to go to a
supportive friend, taking breaks, taking naps because I love naps.
Stuff like that is really important, y'all. It's uh. I
(11:56):
did get my report and going through it it kind
of made me laugh, and go through it kind of
made me laugh again. Like I said, I've been interested
to learn about my background, about digging into what can
be emotionally taxing, but you know, I wanted to find
out a little more, get some healthy information, um, and
get a kind of a start of some of the
(12:17):
things that I had no clue, so I have no
access to you all know. I am a Korean adoptee.
Came into the U S when I was seven, lived
in an orphanage for two to three years. I don't
have a lot of information other than the information that
was brought with me and given to my parents. I
can't even remember the orphanage I was in. I'm sure
my parents have that information. I was adopted through Whold International,
(12:39):
and Whole International is the biggest adoption agency within Korea,
as in fact, a majority of people probably were adopted
through Holt International. And just for a little history on
who Hold International Services were, it was created by Bertha
and Harry Holt, who actually adopted eight what they call
war orphans themselves. So during this time, there are a
(13:01):
lot of children out in the streets, as historically said,
because they were by racial usually white soldiers with Korean women,
and that brought a lot of shame. There's a lot
of factors to this um and so you saw a
lot of orphaned young kids, young children, and they adopted
eight and from that it kind of just grew into
a large service that grew internationally. A huge amount of
(13:26):
adoptees went to Norway, did Mark, Belgium, the Netherlands, France, Switzerland,
and Germany, and eventually into the US. We know, a
lot of Western Christianity and religion kind of popped into
play as well. And it was during this time up
until I would say the nineteen nineties, that international adoption
like that, transracial adoption like that, was huge, and from
(13:48):
what I gathered, was a pretty big money market for
South Korea. Of course, there's a lot of backlash now
there's a bigger conversation about that and and the trauma
that it has caused. There's also this idea that a
majority of the adoptees were young girls or girls or
baby girls because the lineage and um the patriarch essentially
(14:09):
kind of trumps matriarchal lines and apparently can't be as
traced when it comes to legacies and inheritances and such,
so hold all these things. Apparently there was this whole
print in what was called the Pound Pup Legacy that
was written in The Progressive, which was an article I
think based in South Korea, talking about a lot of
(14:31):
the effects and everything that happened, even talking about there
was a city supply of healthy children being shipped to
these different these different countries. There's also the same conversation
and we've talked about it before when we talked about surrogacy,
where women were told that they were just going to
be cared for at these orphanages and then kind of
(14:51):
tricked into sighting over rights. So there's a lot of conversation.
I know we've heard that with Nicole Chung. She had
a little conversation about how not everyone was informed on
what happened, and that happened a lot in in these
kind of agencies. They're trying to do a lot more
transparency when it comes to adoptions, but still a lot
of questions, uh, and a lot of things that had
(15:13):
happened in the past where people can't reconnect. I will
say I believe Wholt International had a service for adopted
because who grow up and want to find out about
their families and having them travel back to South Korea.
I don't have a distinct memory when I was in
the orphanage of an older woman, a young woman coming
back with her adopted parents to visit the orphanage and
kind of looking back on her history. So that was interesting.
(15:36):
I have very little memories. I remember her showing up
and everybody being very excited about that. Within that culture
also was a really kind of sad uh which that
I kind of believed is that whole like these girls,
if they weren't adopted, they would go into prostitution. That
was the immediate reaction. And so we were being saved
(15:56):
from a world of prostitution, and not that that couldn't happen,
but it was such a cautionary tale that was told
to white Americans to save children that it became a
whole persona And for me, I grew up hearing that, like,
be grateful, be grateful because you could have lasted this way.
And don't get me wrong, in that orphanage, I remember
(16:18):
a lot of young girls who are aging out, kind
of a lot like the foster system here in the US.
They were just aging out and no one was helping them.
The government wasn't helping them, the people were not connecting
people with them. Of course, it could be also that
you know, these young kids have been traumatized in the
system and just want to be out, and so they
try to rush out. So it was very interesting to
(16:39):
look at that history. But with that type of history
that also means things get lost in translation, so we
would lose a lot of records. I was told that
I did have chickenpox vaccine, that I actually did have
measles at one point in time, um, and that that
was about it, and like, and I was told that
my parents were divorced, um and I was not allowed
(17:02):
to live with my stepfather, so they gave me to
my grandmother because my stepfather, my real biological father, was
not able to care for me. And then after that
she took me to the orphanage because she couldn't care
for me either. So those are the things that I
remember distinctly as being told my history. But outside of that,
(17:22):
I don't have anything. I don't know. I have a
picture of what I thought was my brother, but again
I have in and out dreams that are not necessarily true.
All these things um that came with me. So having
this kind of breakdown was interesting. So let me talk
about that, because now that I'm giving you the sad
history of adoption in my life, and everybody want to
(17:43):
thinking about that. So according to my twenty three and
me ancestry composition report, I am one that Korean or
at least very highly likely, and according to the rundown
of the report. It really says Korean. So I don't
know if you've been able to look at these reports
or view these reports. It has kind of a color
(18:06):
wheel and it tells you kind of the breakdown of
ancestry or DNA right down. Of course, it changes apparently
with more and more people get reports or take on
the twenty three and me and actually sit in their
kit um. So the overall breakdown was interesting and made
me take a deeper look at my own history. So
the way it breaks down, it shows me the different
(18:29):
administrative regions. So it says, quote, South Korea has sixteen
administrative regions, and we found the strongest evidence of your
ancestry in the following nine regions. So the top five
is one is Soul, second is three is Jella num Do,
and then four's Bussan, and then and then five is Chon.
(18:50):
So it's really interesting. I didn't like reading these, and
now I want to go and research it more because
those regions are not so of course I know Soul,
I'll so no Busan. I was told Signam City and
I think that's in the region of Soul, so I'm
interested in seeing that to be able to see those
regions um as well. And like I said, I did
(19:11):
try to contact someone who's like fifth removed cousin because
I found out they were adopted as well, and they
live in the States. So there's a chunk of people
that live in the States. And several of the people
that I went through that had connections or it shows
as possible relatives for me that has that list. Uh,
several of them were adopted, so that says a lot
to me. And I didn't understand the history behind that,
(19:33):
and I want to learn more because I'm like, wow, uh,
this seems to be so common. I wonder why. And
so there's a whole breakdown. Of course, I also did
my cyberstalking and went through like Facebook trying to find them.
Instagram LinkedIn was a big one, um, But I just
reached out to the one person because it turned out
she and I had been adopted the same year and
(19:54):
I really kind of wanted to see if we could connect.
Haven't made it beyond that other than we shared each
other like as in like we confirmed and I guess
you can friend them. It's the best way I can
think of it. As like in Facebook, you can friend
them and so I don't know, we'll see, but it's
there and there's an option there, and it was nice
to know that I had an option with that. So listeners,
(20:18):
if I go beyond, I'll let you know, yes. But
uh so, moving on, we want to talk about the
help and Trades reports. And I didn't know it exactly
to expect since my background and my ancestry is a
big mystery for me. But looking through the reports, I
was my oldly surprised. Um. And just for reference, in
the in the reports, the way it's phrased, when you
(20:39):
see it, it's it is quote variants not detected, typical likelihood,
slightly increased risk, and increased likelihood, So that's kind of
how they report it. So in my report, type two
diabetes was at an increased likelihood with it being at range,
so it gives you kind of a range of compared
to other how likely, and also states with it that
(21:04):
overall it can depend on different factors, which is always
important to remember because for me, I get my yearly
physical exam with the blood words. Of course that helps
our insured stuff. Um, and I know that I'm in
a good place right now. We will definitely have to
keep a close watch on it because things change and
your age and that all factors in as well. Yes,
(21:39):
And it's also worth noting that according to the c
d C for women, quote, diabetes increases the risk of
heart disease, the most common diabetes complication, by about four times,
and women but only about two times. And men and
women are also at a higher risk of other diabetes
related complications such as blindness, kidney disease, and depression. Right.
(22:00):
And I didn't actually know the statistics until after I
started my research. I was like, Okay, let's see what
this is about. I wanted to dig deeper and just
being able to get and attain this information as good
and I was like, oh wow, I didn't I didn't
know that women were higher risk. I feel like there's
other factors that I wanted to talk about in that,
but you know, we'll get to that later. Um. And again,
(22:20):
it also says in the City City Report that it's
quote different among women African American, Hispanic, Latina, American, Indian,
Alaska Native, and Asian Pacific Islander women are more likely
to have diabetes than white women, which, of course, being
an Asian woman, that's good for me to know. Yes, yes,
indeed yeah. UM. Also in that increased likelihood category was
(22:43):
coronary artery disease, which Smithy has talked about before as
it can present differently in women UM than men. But
also starting to remember according to the CDC quote heart
diseases sometimes thought of as a man's disease. Almost as
many women as men die each year of heart disease
in the United States. UM. And not knowing my history,
that is something that I definitely want to keep in check.
(23:05):
And I'm glad to know of this because right now, again,
everything was great with my blood work this year, but
things changed swiftly. Things change, and when it comes to
health wise, so I want to know these things and
so being able to be informed of that feels like
I'm winning. I don't know. And for many the b
(23:30):
r C A one or the breast cancer gene and
b r C A two can be alarming as it
stays on the twenty three Many reports UH specific genetic
variants and the b r C A one and b
r C A two genes are associated with increased risks
of developing certain cancers, including breast cancer in women and
men and ovarian cancer. And also they do have a
(23:52):
great disclaimer about this, and I don't I do want
to read it off. The twenty three and me b
r C A one and b r C A two
Genetic Health Risk Report is intended for use and adults
to report three genetic variants in the b r C
A one and b r C A two genes associated
with a higher risk of developing breast of variant and
prospect cancer. Report does not include variants and other genes
(24:14):
linked to hereditary cancers. Not intended to diagnose any disease
or tell you about your overall risk of developing a disease.
Not intended to be used to determine any treatments, and
results should be confirmed in clinical settings before taking any
medical action. And it's not a substitute for visits to
healthcare professionals for recommended screens or appropriate follow up, which
(24:36):
I think is really really crucial to know. Again, this
is not a tool for you to just bank your
decisions on, but just the way for you to be like,
let me go check this out and get more information.
I think it's smart for any and all of these
traits being reported, even though it's a likelihood that yes,
(24:57):
I still will go and check it out with a doctor,
just as that reminder for me myself. The report showed
zero variants detected, but again a good reminder from the report. However,
more than a thousand variants in the b r C
A one and b r C A two genes are
known to increase cancer risk, so you can still have
a variant not included in this test. In addition, most
(25:18):
cases of breast and A variant cancers are not caused
by inherited variants, so women without a variant are still
at risk of developing these cancers. Is important to continue
with any cancer screenings your healthcare provider recommends. And yes,
I will absolutely be going to my screenings. What it
is time to squish the boobies. That's how I see it.
As they say the technical term, I'm pretty sure yes,
(25:42):
And as you said, I think, you know, being informed
and getting that more information and being clear on what
that information means is so key. My family does have
a history of breast cancer, so the women in our
family especially are always make sure you get tested, make
sure you do this, and make sure you check for this,
(26:03):
and kind of having that in the back of my
mind that it is something that I needed to keep
an eye on and I think that is incredibly important,
as we all should. So these were some of the
hell things that we did want to talk about and
that came up when I did get my report. But
there's some other interesting things I note from this report,
(26:23):
the wellness report in the case that I am likely
to flush as an alcohol flush reaction. So uh, this
is not news to me, as I discovered this when
I first started drinking, and I was like, WHOA, what
is happening? And I had to research about what was happening,
and I was like, this is this is really mean
(26:45):
of my genetics to tell on me. So I was like, okay,
they okay, this one's okay. And then the next one
was a muscle composition. So it's common in elite power athletes.
I really wish someone would let my muscles know that
this is supposedly something that is a trait. And the
report states quote studies have found that almost all elite
(27:06):
power athletes, including sprinters, throwers, and jumpers, have a specific
genetic variant in a gene related to muscle composition. You
have the same genetic variant as these athletes. That is
not obvious to me, and I'm very sad that I
can't say that's obvious to me. I really wish it were,
but I was like, I'm just gonna glowed about it anyway,
(27:28):
even though it's not physically seeing here um And according
to the Trades Report, I am quote more likely to
be able to match a musical pitch, more likely than
average to have had a bunyan, more likely than average
to be afraid of heights. It is very true, likely
bitten by mosquitoes more often than others. This explains a
(27:50):
lot between you and I any and likely to wake
up around seven a m. I have not put that
to the test, but I kind of want to check
and see if I feel better for some reason. But
you know whatever, I thought, those are all very interesting.
They're very specific, and I want to know more. And
they all made me laugh a little bit and giggle
a little bit. And also it makes me feel superior
to have said I may have had a buncheon more
(28:11):
before you. That makes you feel worse, you know, So
there you go. This has given me a lot to
think about. It has been really interesting to read and
has led me to do some more research for the
sake of my health and my ancestry and I'm glad
to have had this information on hand. And yeah, yeah,
(28:32):
I keep digging and as in fact, I got a
new alert from twenty three and me and saying that, hey,
here's another trait you might not know about. So it
keeps updating, I believe, as it continues with other kids
being sent in. So I'll keep you informed of anything new. Yes,
please do and thank you for sharing this with us,
(28:55):
letting me oh so much love, so much love on
this show. Well, listeners, if you have any thoughts about
what we talked about today, you can always email us.
You know we'd love to hear from you. Our emails
Stuff Media mom Stuff at ihart video dot com. You
can find us on Twitter at mom Stuff podcast or
on Instagram as stuff I Never Told You. Thanks as
always to our super producer Christina. Thank you Christina, and
(29:18):
thanks to you for listening Stuff I Never Told You.
Protection of I Heart Radio for more podcast on my
Heart Radio because the heart Radio app, Apple Podcast or
revery listen to your favorite shows and that's it on
(29:38):
another dope show. Did this episode inspire you to take
a closer look at your health history, your genetic makeup,
Who new DNA could reveal so much about our past,
while also holding the keys to certain health insights that
may impact our future. I continue to be inspired by
these stories, and I hope you do as well. Catch
you next time. Listen to Spit, an original podcast from
(30:03):
I Heart Radio and twenty three in the on the
I Heart Radio app, Apple podcast, or wherever you get
your podcast. H
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Crime Junkie
Does hearing about a true crime case always leave you scouring the internet for the truth behind the story? Dive into your next mystery with Crime Junkie. Every Monday, join your host Ashley Flowers as she unravels all the details of infamous and underreported true crime cases with her best friend Brit Prawat. From cold cases to missing persons and heroes in our community who seek justice, Crime Junkie is your destination for theories and stories you won’t hear anywhere else. Whether you're a seasoned true crime enthusiast or new to the genre, you'll find yourself on the edge of your seat awaiting a new episode every Monday. If you can never get enough true crime... Congratulations, you’ve found your people. Follow to join a community of Crime Junkies! Crime Junkie is presented by audiochuck Media Company.