Sometimes real life is much more interesting and confusing than fiction or movies.
For example, an extraordinary story happened to two Italian girls, Katarina and Melissa, during their childhood. They were switched at the maternity hospital and didn’t grow up with their biological parents until the age of three.
The mistake made by the maternity hospital staff was discovered by chance. Melissa’s mother, Marinella Alanya, went to pick up her daughter from school and noticed a girl who bore a striking resemblance to her and her other two children.
When Marinella saw the mother of the unfamiliar girl, Gisella Foder, she remembered that they had given birth and were discharged on the same day. She began to suspect that the nurses might have mixed up their daughters, and she was right.
DNA tests confirmed the woman’s fears, and both mothers had to face a huge problem.
However, Marinella and Gisella didn’t want to expose their daughters to such stress. They found a compromise: they decided to raise their daughters together under the same roof.
The families started living in a large house, and when the girls were eight years old, their parents told them about the nurse’s mistake.
Katarina and Melissa were not upset by their mothers’ story; they had excellent relationships with each other and with all members of their extended family.
The only issue that Alanya and Fodera had to deal with in the end was the re-registration of documents.
“In reality, the girls grew up with four parents and eight grandparents, and this experiment worked very well. They became sisters, and their families are bound by true love,” said Mauro Caporiccio, the author of the book about Melissa and Katarina, “Sisters Forever.”
