DOYLESTOWN, Ohio, Sept. 21 (UPI) -- An Ohio woman says her faith in God helped her get through finding out that she unknowingly married her father.
Valerie Spruill, 60, of Doylestown found out in 2004 that she had she married her absentee father and came forward with her story this month in hopes of helping other people facing seemingly insurmountable problems, the Akron Beacon Journal reported Sept. 8.
Spruill told the Journal a relative revealed to her the truth about her husband, Perry Spruill, six years after his 1998 death. She then confirmed that her husband was also her father through a DNA test.
The mother of three and grandmother to eight was raised by her grandparents and for much of her childhood believed her grandfather was her father, CNN reported. Spruill also didn't find out until she was 8 or 9 that the woman who often visited the house was not a family friend but her mother.
Spruill told CNN Thursday her faith has helped her cope with the revelation that she married her father, as well as medical problems, including two strokes and being diagnosed with diabetes, she has suffered since.
"I thank God that he gave me a chance to live through all of this," she said. "It is nothing short of a miracle that I'm still here. I want people to know that they can survive something like this."
