 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.

