Kelli Cottrill's Story

I was adopted when I was 5 months old. My adoptive parents had 5 biological children and then adopted 17 more children. They were both school teachers, and I remember my dad coming home from teaching and going to his second job working at a department store. We were a solid unit, and I don’t remember ever having to want for anything.

When I was in college, my biological sister tracked me down. I came from a family with 6 more siblings. My biological mother had Huntington’s Disease, which is genetic, and could no longer take care of her children. My 4 brothers went to family members, and my 2 sisters were also adopted out together.

When my sisters found me, together we got to meet both of my biological parents before they passed. My sisters and I also got to meet our siblings. I had 2 brothers in a nursing home with Huntington’s; one was deceased, and we got to meet a brother living in Ohio.

The 4 of us all got tested for Huntington’s, and we are free of the disease. My 2 brothers in the nursing home have since passed.

Interestingly, the college I attended had a biological cousin I got to meet, and her mother, my mom’s sister, was in a nursing home with Huntington’s in that same town. They both have since passed from this terrible disease as well.

I am so thankful for my adoptive family. My parents weren’t perfect by any means, but were absolutely perfect for me.