An incredible yet true story that comes to life through a book and a film by RAI
Two young women who, shortly after birth, surrendered to the wrong mothers in the maternity ward, and later ended up (when the truth was revealed) growing up together as sisters, shared their incredible story in a book and movie that will be released soon.
The “confusion” at the Mazzara del Valo hospital in Sicily resulted in Katerina Alanya and Melissa Fontera , both 23 years old today, being raised for a while by the wrong mothers.
It took three years from the day the mistake happened to reveal the truth. Marinela Alania, now 51, had gone to the nursery to pick up her daughter when she noticed the incredible resemblance between one of the other children, Katerina, and her two daughters.
The families discussed their suspicions and decided to have a DNA test to find out the truth. When the answers came, they were faced with a huge dilemma. However, so much time had passed and so strong emotions had developed, that the two biological mothers of the girls, Marinela and Gisela Fontera, now 47, saw no other solution: The little girls had to grow up together, as sisters, if fate chose to connect in this strange way.
The two mothers did not even hesitate to move into the same house for a while, wanting to make things as easy as possible for all those involved in this difficult situation.
The Mauro Kaporitsio, author of the book Sisters Forever , told the Times : “Today they are more like twins than sisters and there are strong feelings of love between the two families.”
Katerina and Melissa were born just 15 minutes apart in the same maternity hospital on December 31, 1998 , but the nurses confused the babies in the chaos that had been caused in the hospital due to the New Year. Although the two midwives pointed out to the staff that the baby who was handed over to them was wearing clothes they did not recognize, the reassurance from the nurses that it was just a mess in the overalls reassured them.
Three years later, Marinela saw Katerina in the nursery and noticed her striking resemblance to her daughter, Melissa. “I recognized Katerina’s mother, Gisela Fontera, from the ward at the hospital and fleas entered my ears. 15 days later we did the DNA test and my mind went short. “It was so surreal, so incredible, ” Marinela explains.
The idea of “exchanging” their babies, to end up with their biological child, was something they initially thought unthinkable. As Gisela points out, raising a child for three years and suddenly being told to “give it back” because of a mistake is terribly difficult. However, after much discussion, both mothers decided that the “exchange” should take place, but very slowly and gradually. In order for the girls to get used to it, both Melissa and Katerina started spending time with both families. In fact, for a while the girls lived under the same roof.
The hardest part of this adventure came when experts advised families to stay away from each other. for at least six months, so that girls can adapt to their biological families and their new way of life. “We, the mothers, cried every day on the phone and after three months we decided that we could not stand it anymore. We met and decided never to separate again “ Marinela explains:” Since then I saw Melissa every day, and why not? I breastfed her, I taught her her first words, we shared everything “.
Over time, the two families became very close and the girls became inseparable over time , making close friends at school and outside. However, it took them about eight years to figure out exactly what had happened. Although their lives managed to normalize considerably in the years that followed, something that was helped by the fact that the little ones did not remember much of the first years of their lives, there is something from that time that has not changed: the birth records their names.
For convenience, both Katerina and Melissa decided to keep the names they always used.
The film based on the story of the two families will be shown on RAI TV this week.
