The Best Family Ever

loving each other

Every adopted child wonders who his biological mother is. Movie star? Rock star? For Richard Lorenc, she turned out to be the last thing he ever imagined: a sideshow bearded lady.

The 33-year-old Kansas man had always been curious about his birth parents. His search began when he filed a request with the Kansas Department of Social and Rehabilitation Services to find his biological parents. Six weeks later he received a letter from the department saying it had the identity of his mother: Vivian Wheeler, now 62. It also informed him that both his mother and his maternal grandmother had hypertrichosis, known as werewolf syndrome. Each had facial hair, even as children. The letter further stated that his mother was born a hermaphrodite, with both male and female reproductive organs. Wheeler's facial fuzz had appeared at birth with an inch and a half of light hair covering her cheeks and chin. She says her mother wanted a daughter, and doctors were instructed to remove the male parts. Wheeler claimed her father was humiliated by his bearded little girl, but it didn't prevent him from capitalizing on her condition. She began working in sideshows at an early age, earning money to send home to her family.
Wheeler stopped shaving her beard entirely in 1990 shortly after the death of her mother. Since then, her beard has grown to 11 inches in length, leading to appearances in Ripley's Believe It or Not! and in the Guinness World Records book. According to Wheeler, doctors examining her for Guinness said she has a male bone structure, with half her hormones being male. Doctors thought it would be impossible for her to give birth, but she became pregnant, and baby Richard was delivered by cesarean section in 1977. For Wheeler, a Seventh-Day Adventist, it was a miracle. But she says the father, a carnival ride operator she had met in Nebraska, took the baby away from her soon after the birth. A DNA test would prove that Lorenc is in fact the Richard William Chambers Jr. born in Nebraska in 1977 -- the same Richard William Chambers Jr. who was taken away by Richard Sr. shortly after Wheeler gave birth. Wheeler says she spent years searching for her son but never contacted the authorities about the disappearance. Her son was placed in foster care. At 7, he was adopted and became Richard Kevin Ryan. When he married, he took his wife's surname, Lorenc.
     
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