DECEMBER 24 • 2020 | 17
She’d learned in her 20s that
there was “something unique
about [her] conception,” she
said. After her brother got a
DNA test, she decided to get
one, too.
“I think it’s really great,”
Landes said. “It answers a lot
of questions because I’ve never
resembled any of my current
siblings at all. When I’ve spo-
ken with my DNA matches,
close matches, I feel like a part
of me … that was missing is
now found.”
Her father, Oleh Kostetsky,
85, is the only surviving par-
ent among the siblings who
were interviewed by the JN.
Kostetsky and his late wife
knew Dr. Peven used a donor
to help them conceive a child,
he said, but they never knew
the identity of the donor. They
were told it would be a resi-
dent or intern at the hospital.
“I just found out about it
very recently, what went on
behind the scenes. And I don’t
object to any of that,” he said.
The Kostetskys had three
children conceived via donors.
Landes is the only one who is
the donor child of Dr. Peven,
though her older sister was
also delivered by the doctor.
“I was very happy about the
whole thing,” Kostetsky said of
Dr. Peven’s effort to help him
and his wife have children.
“
And as far as I was con-
cerned, I was their father.”
Landes met Dr. Peven in
person at his Southfield apart-
ment earlier this year. Her
timing was perfect, she said
— had she waited just a few
more weeks, the COVID-19
pandemic would have derailed
her plans.
Dr. Peven discussed his
fertility treatments with a
scientific passion, she told JN.
She said she didn’t sense any
emotion behind his words
except for that he truly want-
ed to help parents start their
families.
As for herself, Landes is
happy to have been brought
into the world. “I’m just
grateful that my mom wanted
a baby so bad that she did
something so radical at the
time,” she said.
“I’M NOT JUMPING
AROUND FOR JOY”
For some, the revelation that
Dr. Peven is their biological
father has been more difficult.
A biological child living in
Colorado found out he was
related to the doctor in 2015.
He was one of the first to
make the discovery.
The man, who was born
in the 1960s, had previously
tracked his genealogy on his
dad’s side back to the 1400s.
His dad had died when he was
young, making the genealog-
ical connection even more
important to the man, who
wishes to remain anonymous
to protect his privacy.
Learning that his dad didn’t
biologically father him after
tracking his heritage back so
far wasn’t easy, he said.
“I am still getting my mind
around that stuff,” he told the
JN. “I’m not jumping around
for joy. Yeah, I do realize that
it is why I’m here. But even
at that, I do somewhat feel
hijacked.”
He parents have both passed
away, and he isn’t sure wheth-
er they knew Dr. Peven used
his own sample to help them
conceive, though he did know
they had trouble getting preg-
nant.
However, the anonymous
biological child, like his
half-siblings, doesn’t believe
Dr. Peven acted out of malice
in using his own samples.
He went to visit Dr. Peven
in 2017, and during their con-
versation, he told the doctor
he believed he was his biologi-
cal child. Dr. Peven denied it.
“He was a gentle man, and I
definitely think he was caring
about what was going on,”
the man said of their 2017
encounter. “I don’t think he
was a malicious fellow.”
The man has connected
with Jaime and another sib-
ling, whose sister is also the
biological child of Dr. Peven.
Through the anonymous bio-
logical child, the other two
siblings declined to speak to
the JN for this article.
A REVELATION
Jaime, too, continues to grapple
with what it means to be Dr.
Peven’s biological child and to
come forward with her story.
“We owe it to the people who
don’t know so they can know.
But then do you owe it to hurt
somebody?” she said, thinking
of the 104-year-old doctor.
“How do you [morally] deal
with this?”
Jaime ultimately decided to
speak out to give other people
delivered by Dr. Peven the
option of looking into their own
DNA.
It’s especially important to
give people a chance to find out
their health history, she said.
When 50% of someone’s genes
come from an Ashkenazi Jew,
they are considerably more
likely to develop certain genetic
conditions, including Gaucher
disease, Tay-Sachs disease and
cystic fibrosis.
While none of the biolog-
ical children of Dr. Peven
who spoke to the JN for this
article grew up Jewish, Jaime
said she knows of at least one
other who did. With Dr. Peven
having delivered many Jewish
babies from the Detroit area,
Jaime worries how this story
could affect the community.
This could be “a revelation and
a giant shake up,” she said.
But as far as joining the
Jewish community themselves,
Jaime and Jean both said
they’re thrilled to learn they
had Jewish genes.
This year, Jean decided to
learn the Chanukah prayers.
And Jaime purchased a
menorah ornament for her
Christmas tree.
“I certainly have always loved
and respected the Jewish com-
munity, so that part makes me
happy,
” Jaime said.
Do you have information you would
like to share with the JN about Dr.
Peven and your family? Please get in
touch: alapin@thejewishnews.com.
“LEARNING ABOUT IT NOW
DOES NOT IN ANY WAY AFFECT
HOW I FEEL PERSONALLY
ABOUT MY DAD.”
— ROGER PEVEN
Jean Landes’s results from AncestryDNA showing various relatives.