It’s not every day you hear of someone being born the “wrong race.” But TikToker Hadeya (@ha.deya) is the product of an IVF mix-up.
She was born the wrong race when she was switched at conception. She grew up living on the East Coast of Canada and was raised Ghanaian, despite not resembling her West African father.
Her parents met in Toronto and got married in September 1991. Her dad is from Ghana in West Africa, and her mom is from Prince Edward Island in Canada.
They wanted to have kids, but they were having fertility issues, so they went to the Toronto Fertility and Sterility Institute to do IVF.
“They went to see a fertility specialist by the name of Dr. Camsey, and they specifically requested…a Black donor,” Hadeya explained.
“They were assured that it was a Black donor.”
Dr. Camsey was a renowned fertility doctor in Toronto throughout the 1990s and 2000s. However, he did not have the best practices.
Everything seemed to be going normally until the day of her birth. The nurse came to tell her mother about her jaundice after she was born. Her mom mentioned that she was supposed to be a mixed baby, but when she took a closer look, she obviously wasn’t.
So, her parents went to the doctor’s office to question what was going on. The doctor told them that it would take a year for Hadeya to “turn brown.”
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Of course, that explanation did not sit right with them, and her mom ended up suing the clinic for the mix-up.
Around her first birthday, her mom called the clinic to ask for more information about their case. She was told that the donor was a 6’5″ redhead who worked in finance.
“When my parents had a meeting to discuss this with Dr. Camsey, he simply said you should be thankful for what you have. You have a beautiful family; you got what you wanted,” Hadeya said.
Hadeya’s parents took him to court. Her mom got the feeling that this wasn’t Dr. Camsey’s first time in a situation like this. They won in court, and Hadeya continued living life with her family, culturally connected and deeply loved.
She never grew up feeling any different. Her parents just explained to her that she looked more like her mom, while her siblings resembled her dad more closely.
They told her the truth about everything when she was 11 or 12. Her story is a unique one, as a case like hers had never happened in Canada before.
It highlights the consequences of medical negligence. Mistakes like that should not be minimized because they shape real lives, identities, and families.
By Emily Chan
Emily Chan is a writer who covers lifestyle and news content. She graduated from Michigan State University with a degree in... More about Emily Chan
