Chris Long's life changed completely when he realized that he was slowly becoming someone else. His DNA was changing, and there was nothing he could do to stop it...
Not Feeling Like Yourself?
Have you ever wondered what it would be like to become someone else? Well, it seems like scientists have just recently uncovered a peculiar case of someone that has developed the DNA of another man that lives 5,000 miles away from him. The strangest part of it all? This particular instance isn’t the first time that it happened.
Two for the Price of One
Most commonly, this occurs in patients that receive bone marrow transplants. Although it's extremely rare, this phenomenon has happened enough that scientists named it “chimerism”. Named after the creature of Greek mythology that’s composed of a goat, a lion, and various other reptilian appendages, chimerism is when an individual has two sets of DNA. This would have been perfectly fine if the chimera wasn’t a member of a police department, and the DNA he took on didn’t come from a criminal living in Ireland…
Not Quite How it Seems
Three months after Chris Long’s bone marrow transplant surgery, his doctors revealed something very strange to him. This Reno, Nevada based man was alerted that his blood had, almost entirely, taken on the DNA of his donor. Evidently, this is fairly normal early on into the healing process, after all, strong cells tend to take over weak cells in these kinds of situations.
No Longer You
Four years after his procedure, however, things got a little stranger. After a routine DNA test, Long’s doctors discovered that his donor’s DNA didn’t just show up in his blood. After taking multiple mouth and cheek swabs, a skin graft, and a seminal fluid sample, the doctors concluded that the donor’s DNA was slowly taking over Long’s body…
Raising the Question
Back at the Reno Sheriff’s Department, Long’s coworkers had been observing him closely, regarding the credibility of the DNA evidence they collected. Long worked behind the scenes for a research unit that took DNA samples and processed them for ongoing cases. The legitimacy of their results was generally accurate, but with Long’s current condition, they were forced to take another look into their methods of collection.
Becoming the Criminal
Thousands of individuals get bone marrow transplants every year, and although it is extremely unlikely for someone to develop chimerism, it has happened more than once. The forensic scientists that he worked with showed some concern for his condition though if the person that donated the bone marrow to Long were to commit a crime, Long might get pinned with it. Unbeknownst to him, the person who donated bone marrow to Long was a convicted violent criminal in Ireland who had just been released from jail…
Doing the Dirty Work
Without telling Long, the forensics team in Reno, Nevada contacted the northern Dublin police department to keep an eye on the criminal that the original bone marrow came from. As it turns out, that individual was considered to be “at-risk” of relapsing in criminal activity. As crazy as it sounds, that could potentially put Chris Long at risk of being framed for a crime that he did not commit.
This Could Get Ugly
Although Long possesses the DNA of a man who lives all the way in Ireland, if that man commits a crime and leaves his DNA at the scene, Long is at equal risk to be convicted for the crime regardless of his known involvement or not. This is a legal loophole that was highlighted by the Reno Sheriff’s Department, which in turn carries over for international crimes. In fact, a similar scenario happened in Anchorage, Alaska in 2005…
Trouble in Anchorage
A single man broke into a storage facility early in the morning in Anchorage. He was caught on CCTV, but his face was completely indiscernible because he was wearing a mask at the time of the robbery. The thief got away with just over $15,000 in cash, however, he left a small indicator at the scene that would have led the police right to him, if it was uniquely his.
How Could That Be?
The robber left a bit of skin on the sharp hinge of a lockbox, presumably, he cut himself while taking the cash out and didn’t think about retrieving his DNA before he left the scene of the crime. This DNA would have completely sealed the case if it were actually useful in the court system. When the DNA evidence came back from the lab, it indicated that the person who left their skin at the scene of the crime had been locked in jail for the past 3 years, and he was confirmed to be in his cell, via CCTV footage, throughout the duration of the robbery itself…
Highly Unlikely
This response confused the jury, leaving the case inconclusive for the time being. The individual that was in jail claimed that he robbed the storage units, despite the fact that he was on camera for the duration of the robbery. After some research was conducted about this man’s family lineage, it turns out that his brother received a bone marrow transplant from him roughly 5 years before he was thrown in jail.
Nice Try
Upon being called in for DNA testing, the man’s brother confessed to committing the robbery. When he was tested it was found that more than 50% of his DNA belonged to his brother, who was already in jail. If it weren’t for this case’s very specific happenings, scientists would not have been able to work through a similar case that came up just three years after this initial occurrence...
Dr. Eom
Yongbin Eom was studying a very peculiar case at the University of North Texas Centre for Human Identification in 2008. He was called to the scene of a horrific car accident in Seoul, South Korea to help identify one of the victims. The victim’s body was completely unidentifiable due to trauma related to the accident, and the police were completely unable to determine who this person was based on the DNA evidence.
Tragic Misunderstanding
This person’s DNA tested 50% female and 50% male, but there was no identifier that the DNA came from both a male and female person, it seemed as if the chromosomes were split down the middle. It was almost as if this person was two people at once. Their blood did not have an identifier that it belonged to more than one person, but it also didn’t seem like it could have come from just one source…
Problem Solved, Sort of...
According to all of the collected DNA sources, the actual human information found within the organs and tissue discovered on the scene belonged to a female source. However, it was discovered that the physical body that was found on the scene was from a male source. Using that information, authorities were able to identify the victim as a 26-year-old male bone marrow recipient who, almost entirely, took on his donor’s female DNA.
In the Clear
So, as you can probably imagine, Chris Long wasn’t necessarily in the best position to be involved with a police force at the time. Fortunately for him, his condition had been noted, and we have an authoritative history that could defend him in the court of law. Regardless, being accused of a crime that he didn’t commit was the last of his worries, at this point, he was thinking about who’s DNA would pass over to the child he was planning on having…
Passing Down the Right Genes
Long and his wife were planning on having a child in the near future, and his doctors were concerned whether his DNA or the Irishman’s DNA would pass over. Although there have been no recorded occurrences of bone marrow recipients passing on their donor’s DNA to a child, it’s entirely possible that could happen. Since Chris Long’s DNA was pretty much completely compromised, he and his wife had to consult multiple doctors who specialize in the genetic passage before they made a decision about their predicament.
No Relation
The genetics professionals that consulted with Long and his wife had some bad news for them. The doctors urged Long and his wife to not commit to having a child because of different a case in which a bone marrow recipient’s child possessed his DNA, but looked like the person who donated their bone marrow. In this particular instance, the mother of that child almost lost custody because of the lack of resemblance. Because of this, Long was forced to make a life-altering decision that would ultimately help him and his wife in the long run…
A Tough Decision
The duo decided to adopt a child instead of having their own. They did not want to risk the potential of losing their child to a legal loophole, given the event that the bone marrow donor’s DNA transferred over to their kid. Although this is upsetting, this is the cost that they had to pay to keep Chris Long alive. Without the bone marrow transplant, there was a 100% chance that Long would have died of the Leukemia he was diagnosed with.
Fortune Favors the Good
Long’s life will forever be a case study after this event. Fortunately, doctors were able to latch onto his case before anything strange happened. If the man on the other side of the bone marrow donation had committed a crime that involved DNA evidence being taken, there would have been a high chance that Long would have had to deal with the repercussions all the way in America. As time has gone on, doctors have bee able to figure out why this particular occurrence happened, and how it is going to medically affect Long for the rest of his life…
Trouble's Brewing
Long’s doctors urged him to get a vasectomy since he did not want to pass on the Irishman’s genes. However, after the vasectomy, the doctors discovered something strange. According to lab results, 100% of the Irishman's DNA showed up in his biopsy. So, in theory, the child that Long would have had would have been a potential 50/50 split of his DNA and the Irishman’s…
Not Who You Think You Are
This was discovered to have been caused by the white blood cells in Long’s system. Although these cells do not have the ability to rewrite someone’s DNA, if they are strong enough (like in the case of a bone marrow transplant), they can slowly take over a person’s lymphatic system. This isn’t a bad thing, in fact in most cases it’s extremely necessary, but in that instance, a person can become someone else…
The Only True Chimera
So far, Long is the only case of 100% chimerism that’s actually being studied. Fortunately for him, that eventually worked out in his favor when his Irish counterpart got convicted once more on assault charges and landed in jail. The police were immediately notified about the DNA similarities between him and Long, so they dropped the American investigation entirely and focused on putting the Irishman behind bars. Justice has been served, and Long plans on visiting the other half of his DNA in Ireland when the man begins accepting visitors. Speaking of “other half,” here is another example of chimerism that showed up in a person who never had to get a bone marrow transplant…
Chimera, Without the Tragedy
Taylor Muhl was supposed to be a fraternal twin when she was born, but some complications occurred during her gestation period and the twins merged in the womb, making one person. Muhl, now 32 years old, had to undergo some DNA testing for a cancer screening, in which the doctors found that she hosted two different sets of DNA. Both of these sets of DNA are split completely in two down the center of her body...
I Am Who I Am
Muhl is the first chimerism study that involved a subject that didn’t develop the disorder from an external source. She has a large birthmark spanning her entire torso that splits across the center of her belly button. Either side of her body genetically belongs to someone else, and she has described her skin as feeling like “she is constantly being touched by another person.” Muhl isn’t the only example of this strange occurrence, someone else was recently detected as being a “triple chimera,” meaning they share the DNA of three separate individuals…
Triple Chimera
Karen Keegan is an Ohio woman that needed a kidney transplant in 2002. Doctors were amazed to find that Keegan not only possessed two different sets of DNA after the procedure, but she also had three equal parts of existing DNA within her body. Although it was never proven, it is assumed that Keegan was a birth chimera, and she had taken on the DNA of the person who gave her the kidney as well. Strangely enough, doctors are finding more and more ways in which people can obtain the DNA of someone else…
Pieces of You
If someone is given a perfect transfusion, an event in which the body does not reject a blood transfusion whatsoever, they will likely take on some of the donor’s DNA. Even in a situation like this, which is much more common than a bone marrow transfusion, the human body can become subject to taking on someone else’s information. In fact, there is a disorder that is now being studied that explains these moments of possessing someone else within you…
You're Just Like Me
Microchimerism is when a small fraction of your living cells belong to someone else. This most commonly occurs when a woman gets pregnant, and fragments of their baby’s DNA find their way into her bloodstream. In fact, infant DNA is found in more than 75% of pregnant mothers, and not just in their bloodstream. Tissue samples from kidneys, spleens, ovaries, and stomach linings have illuminated the fact that pregnant mothers take on a larger piece of their children than previously thought…
Trickle Down DNA
When a baby is born, the mother loses its DNA over time, but the baby will possess the mother’s DNA in its bloodstream for a lot longer than one might think. Even though it sounds absolutely insane, infants can hold their parent’s DNA for up to three years after they were born. However, it is more common for the infant to have its own DNA dominant in its system after only 6 months of life…
Keep This in Mind
Keep this in mind the next time you, unfortunately, have to get a blood transfusion, bone marrow transplant, or organ replacement. It’s best to hope that the person on the other end of your donation didn’t have any criminal affiliation, because you might find yourself in a situation you never expected to be in. Overall, it’s best to just be yourself, but when you need a little help, there’s nothing wrong with having a little bit of someone else help out.