'I was snatched at birth by another family - and only found out after DNA test'

07 August 2023 , 09:34

1211     0

Miche Zephany Sheldon (Image: Miche Zephany Sheldon / SWNS)

A woman was recently walked down the aisle at her wedding by "two dads" after she discovered she was snatched at birth and brought up by another family in South Africa.

Miche Zephany Sheldon, 26, was snatched by Lavona Solomon who was then arrested after a DNA test in 2015 revealed she and her husband, Michael, were not Miche’s biological parents. But Miche still loved the family who raised her, so she asked both Michael and her biological dad, Morne Nurse, to walk her down the aisle.

Miche, a financial bookkeeper from Cape Town, said: "Michael had been my dad my whole life - he fathered me. I’m so glad Morne opened his heart to walk alongside him down the aisle. It was such a beautiful day. We saw the union of my two families." Miche, who was originally named Zephany Nurse, was born on April 27, 1997, and taken from her cot in Groote Schur Hospital, Cape Town, three days later.

Miche with her sister Cassidy on her wedding day (Miche Zephany Sheldon / SWNS)

She was raised for 19 years by Lavona and Michael, with no idea she was the biological daughter of another family. But a new girl, Cassidy, joined Miche’s school in 2015 and she realised the pair looked exactly alike. This prompted social workers at Miche’s school to ask her to do a DNA test and she found out the pair weren’t her real parents and that Cassidy was her biological sister.

"Meeting my biological parents… there wasn’t that connection. It was extremely difficult because you’ve grown up thinking this is your family", Miche said about meeting her birth parents in 2015, at aged 17. She continued: "I was looking for it - but it just wasn’t there in the beginning. I’d been raised by Lavona and Michael my whole life. Both families were just so harsh with each other, as well. I really had to adjust to having two different dads in my life. But I knew I’d want them both walking me down the aisle whenever I got married."

Baby boy has spent his life in hospital as doctors are 'scared' to discharge him

Morne, Miche's biological dad with kids on her wedding day (Miche Zephany Sheldon / SWNS)

Lavona had been suffering from fertility issues around the time Miche was born and had a late miscarriage. She then took Miche from her crib in the maternity ward, while dressed as a nurse. Miche no longer has any contact with the woman who raised her, but she doesn't see her as a criminal.

She said: "I don’t see the mum who raised me as criminal and evil. Everyone just got hurt in the process. We all just needed to heal." Miche met teacher Justin Sheldon, 32, at church in 2012 and told him about her past after a few years together. He was "shocked but empathetic" and they married on March 21, 2023.

Miche said: "My biological dad wasn’t too happy at first. But this day was all about me and my relationship with my husband. But eventually, he said yes to me. It was a miracle! The relationship between my two families is improving. They do get along now - we’ve all matured, realised we’re human and are finally coming to terms with what happened. We show mutual respect to one another, and we’re all very understanding."

Rachel Hagan