The 50-Year Secret

By: Julie MacNeil

Narrated by: Christina Betz

Julie MacNeil is 6'4," and although she is neither a WNBA athlete nor a famous model, she has a remarkable story to tell. As an adopted child, she always wondered about the parents who gave her up. After overcoming a challenging childhood and surviving two tumultuous marriages, a chance DNA test revealed an incredibly rare and life-threatening liver-lung disease called alpha-1 antitrypsin deficiency. Julie then embarked on a difficult journey to find her birth family. Her goal was to warn them about the disease, which is highly genetic and often undiagnosed. What followed was a miraculous sequence of events and a remarkable homecoming.

©2018 Julie MacNeil (P)2021 Julie MacNeil

Loved it!

, thanks for writing your book!  I really enjoyed it.  Your ability to recall details from an early age are amazing!  It brought back a lot of memories from my own childhood!  I definitely love your Oh Well attitude as you find out what's not working for you, and you've definitely reinforced my desire to stop waiting to enjoy life!

Wow!

This book is truly an insightful and inspiring true story. It flows nicely and the personality really shines throughout this book.

A story of grit, determination and inspiration.

The narrator caught my attention right from the beginning. Couldn't stop listening to it! Very inspiring

A Must-Read!

I loved listening to the story of Julie MacNeil on Audible. It was engaging and I found myself pressing "play" at any spare moment throughout my day! I was never bored and even laughed out loud while listening. Julie's story was inspiring and I loved learning more about alpha1-antitrypsin deficiency in an interesting way. I would highly recommend this book!

Loved Julie's story on so many levels.

This book made me think about my own life and how my experiences shaped who I am today. We each come to the planet with a personality and yet our families and the other people in our lives greatly influence us.

I loved the humor filled - tell it like it - is way Julie shared her story. I've been waiting for this book to come out for about a year now and was not disappointed.

We all have different challenges and triumphs in our lives. When we share our experiences openly like Julie does, it reminds us how connected we are.

The people in her life that were unexpectedly kind when she really needed it, the things that happened just at the right time, the chances she took that she might be rejected, and rewards from being brave in the face of the unknown are things we can all relate to.

If you're looking for a true story that's both entertaining and thought provoking you'll enjoy this book !

A modern Joseph in Egypt

Loved the perspective of saving a biological family through the adoption journey and DNA testing.

Bookclub favorite

Our bookclub read The 50 Year Secret for this month and loved it. The story was captivating and we all took something away from it. We were honored to have the author, Julie, join us for our discussion. She was such a great guest. A highly recommended listen.