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Man switched at birth visits 2 families

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DUNEDIN, New Zealand, March 5 (UPI) -- A man who discovered at age 57 that he had been switched at birth with another baby in a New Zealand hospital says he feels lucky to have two mothers.

Fred George, who now lives in Massachusetts, flew to New Zealand this week to surprise his birth mother, Helen Churchman, on her 82nd birthday, the (Dunedin, New Zealand) Otago Daily Times reported.

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George and Jim Churchman, born Christmas Eve 1946 in the same hospital in Dunedin, somehow got assigned to the wrong mothers. Both sometimes wondered in childhood why they were so unlike their siblings -- George a blonde in a family of dark-haired Lebanese and Churchman dark in a family of fair-haired Scots.

Five years ago, DNA testing uncovered the mix-up. George has since written a book, "Switched at Birth: My Life in Someone Else's World."

He plans to spend time this week with all of his relatives, with a big party planned for the Georges and Churchmans, including the two changelings.

"I feel I've two families," George said. "And I've been so lucky to have had two mothers."

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