Yes, you read that right. A woman was walked down the aisle at her wedding by ‘two dads’ – one being her biological dad, and the other being the husband of the woman who kidnapped her as a baby.
Miche Zephany Sheldon, 26, was taken by Lavona Solomon – who is coming to the end of a 10-year prison sentence for the crime.
She was arrested in 2015 after a DNA test revealed she and her husband, Michael, were not Miche’s biological parents.
But, given these are the people she thought to be her parents, Miche loved her family and still wants the man who became her father figure to be a part of her life.
She asked both Michael and her biological dad, Morne Nurse, to walk her down the aisle on her wedding day.
Miche, a financial bookkeeper from Cape Town, said: ‘Michael had been my dad my whole life – he fathered me. I’m so glad Morne opened his heart to walk alongside him down the aisle.
‘It was such a beautiful day. We saw the unionship of my two families.’
Miche – who was originally named Zephany Nurse – was born in 1997, and then taken from her cot in Cape Town, three days later.
She was raised for 19 years by Lavona and Michael, with no idea she was the biological daughter of another family.
That changed when a new girl, Cassidy, joined Miche’s school in 2015 – the pair looked exactly alike.
Soon after, social workers asked to do a DNA test. It was then she found out the people she knew as mum and dad, weren’t in fact her biological family.
Cassidy was revealed to be her sister.
Lavona was arrested shortly afterwards and received a 10 year sentence for kidnapping Miche.
Miche was then introduced to her birth parents aged 17.
‘It was extremely difficult, because you’ve grown up thinking this is your family,’ she said.
‘Meeting my biological parents there wasn’t that connection.
‘I was looking for it – but it just wasn’t there in the beginning. I’d been raised by Lavona and Michael my whole life.
‘Both families were just so harsh with each other, as well. I really had to adjust to having two different dads in my life.
‘But I knew I’d want them both walking me down the aisle whenever I got married.’
Lavona had been suffering from fertility issues around the time Miche was born, and had a late miscarriage.
She then took Miche from her crib, pretending to be a nurse.
Miche no longer has any contact with the woman who raised her – but she doesn’t see her as a criminal.
She said: ‘I don’t see the mum who raised me as criminal and evil. Everyone just got hurt in the process. We all just needed to heal.’
Miche met teacher Justin Sheldon, 32, at church in 2012. She has two children from a previous relationship – Sophia, six and Matteo, four.
Two years into knowing each other, in 2021, Miche told Justin about her past.
He was ‘shocked but empathetic’ – and has provided Miche, Sophia and Matteo with support ever since.
At their wedding, both Michael and Morne walked Miche down the aisle.
She said: ‘My biological dad wasn’t too happy at first. But this day was all about me and my relationship with my husband.
‘But eventually, he said yes for me. It was a miracle!
‘The relationship between my two families is improving. They do get along now – we’ve all matured, realised we’re human and are finally coming to terms with what happened.
‘We show mutual respect to one another, and we’re all very understanding.’
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