Family medical history

By Nancy Kacirek Feldman

Subjects: Adoptees, Biography, Identification, Medical records, Medical genetics, Birthparents

Description: Knowing where you came from often determines who you are. At the age of 45, Nancy Feldman knew how her doctor appointment would go. They would ask her about her family's health history, and she would hear the doctor's familiar sigh after she answered, "I don't know, I'm adopted." Being perfectly happy with the loving family she had, Feldman never took an interest in finding her biological parents until diagnosed with a disease that she passed on to her son. Suddenly, Nancy's lack of family history was affecting someone else. Nancy wrote a letter to the Nebraska Children's Home Society for help, and the adoption agency assigned her case to Rebecca Crofoot. This began a 17-year journey between the two women who were determined to find information about a family that might not know, or want to know, Nancy existed.