Man Swapped At Birth Said He Resented Fact That Mother Never Switched Him Back
A South African man swapped at birth with another child has admitted to resenting his biological mother for never switching him back.
A nurse at Nigel Hospital in Johannesburg gave Robin and Gavin to the wrong mothers in February 1989 when they were the hospital's only two newborns that day.
Robin grew up with single mum Sandy Dawkins on the outskirts of Jo-burg and Gavin grew up with the richer parent Megs Clinton Parker before the mistake was discovered two years later.
One of the parents told 60 Minutes Australia: "You can't reject a child that you've been so close to for two years.
"Initially I think you protect the one you've got. The first few days are shock, then the curiosity comes. Where's my baby?"
A DNA test found that Megs was not his mother and records then confirmed her biological son Robin had been growing up with Sandy.
Neither Sandy or Megs wanted to exchange their boys back to the original parents after raising them from birth.
Despite all this and growing up 500km apart in very different living situations, the boys referred to each other as brothers.
Appearing on 60 Minutes, Robin wishes his biological mother Megs had taken him back and speaks to her every day on the phone.
At 15, Robin said he struggled to accept the situation and missed his biological mother.
He even admitted to resenting his birth-switch brother who lives a much easier life with a richer mother.
He said: "If I've ever wanted something, I've had to work towards it. I’ve never just had it come towards me."
But Gavin was all the while enjoying his time with mother Megs in South African city Petermaritzburg and felt no regrets whatsoever.
“Saying I thank my lucky stars every day would be wrong but at the same time I was given a life which I’ve now lived and I’m still living and I don’t regret anything," he said on the show.
In 2004 Megs asked Robin to move halfway across the country without suggesting Gavin should return to Sandy.
Sandy said at the time: “I just want to know she’s really happy with what she’s achieved.
“I mean she’s ruined people’s lives, there’s just no other way to look at it… she’s ruined mine for starters.”
Charlie Metcalfe