Mary and I are twins. Nothing strange about that you may say, except for one thing. Are we Identical or not? Weve never known, not even mother knew. We look identical, we sound identical, but that doesn't mean we are identical...it doesn't mean we're from the same egg.
We decided to try and find out in time for our 60th birthday.
The cost of DNA was well out of our reach, but how else could we do it?
Mary phoned and suggested the Twins Research Unit in London. Id never heard of it, but the answer without hesitation was YES
A letter was sent and a reply came quickly. The unit would be pleased to help and appointments were made.
Two very excited sisters set off not knowing what to expect.
We had to answer loads of questions and go through loads of tests - all done with a sense of fun. We enjoyed every minute and felt as if the day was special for both of us.
And...we were at last going to have an answer.
We knew from the beginning that the results from all the tests would take months - maybe even a year - to come through. But it took ages. Our 60th birthday passed in July 2000 and still no answers. Then in March 2001 Mary got her letter. It took a few days before the letterbox sounded in my ears.
We opened the letters together, down the phone!
Then all we wanted was for someone to ask 'Are you identical?'. We would give them a smile and, for the first time, say 'yes'.
