Tuesday, October 5, 2010

Mixed race sisters have one black and one white child each by the same fathers


It is said to be a million-to-one genetic fluke, but mixed-race sisters Sharon and Sonia have smashed the odds by BOTH having what they described as 'one white child and one brown one.'
While Sonia's son Kyle and Sharon's daughter Kayleigh have straight blonde hair and pale skin, Sonia's son Cameron and Sharon's daughter Paige have brown curly hair and darker skin.
Both Sharon's partner, Malcolm Halloway, and Sonia’s ex-partner Phillip Bradley are white.
A combination of several genes is thought to determine human skin tone and hair colour. It is therefore possible for a mixed-race couple to have a white or black child depending on the fusion of their dominant and recessive genes.
Sonia, 40, from Erdington, West Mids, said: 'I was really shocked when the boys were born.
'Cameron came out first, and then the next thing we saw was a little pair of white legs and white bottom.
'I just thought: "What happened?" The doctors said it was very unusual, but that it does happen.
'People don't realise they are twins at first, but when you tell them they say they can see similarities. They are very bubbly, lively and so energetic.'

Unusual cousins: Kayleigh (second right) and Paige's (right) mother Sharon said people who knew their family now didn't think anything of the physical difference between their children
The cousins love spending time together, playing computer games, football and racing around on their bikes.
Sharon, 35, from Birmingham, said her first daughter Paige resembled her closely and she had no inkling of the shock that was in store.
'When I had Kayleigh she was born by C-section and the first thing they did after she came out was put her straight into Malcolm’s arms,' she said.
'We couldn’t believe it when we saw her blue eyes, blonde hair and light skin and I think if the circumstances had been any different I might have worried there had been a mistake.
'Sonia was still expecting her twins and I remember her laughing at me that I had one white child and one brown one.
'Then, after she gave birth and the same thing happened to her she said: "I suppose this is what I get for laughing at you!"

Pictured are (front L - R) Sonia Brown and Sharon Harris. Back L-R: Cameron with dad Philip Bradley and twin brother Kyle. Kayleigh with father Malcolm Holloway and sister Paige.
Sharon added: 'The girls don’t seem to notice. Sometimes they ask me why one of them is dark-skinned and the other is light-skinned and I just tell them that Paige looks like me and Kayleigh looks like her daddy.
'The kids all play really well together because they all the same age group and I guess it helps that they all have something in common.
'When they were younger I did used to get some funny looks from people in the street and when we go on holiday people often assume the girls are just friends.
'But you get used to it and most people who know our family now don’t think anything of it.
'It doesn’t bother us in the slightest - we wouldn’t change our children for the world.'

No comments: