A dozen siblings have set a new Guinness World Record for the highest combined age of 12 living siblings.
The youngest sibling, Londoner Genia Carter, told 980 CFPL’s Mike Stubbs on London Live she and her 11 brothers and sisters add up to 1,042 years in age.
“I’m 75 and the eldest is 97,” she said. “In 22 years, one woman gave birth to 12 children.
“By the time I was born, there was enough siblings to look after the other ones.”
The D’Cruz family grew up in Pakistan but all eventually left. Carter explained this was due to their religion, “and there wasn’t much opportunity if you were Christian.”
“My eldest brother came to Canada first, and then he slowly brought all of us (over) a span of 15 years,” she said.
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Carter first landed in Montreal but wanted to explore Canada.
“At that time, it wasn’t very hard to get jobs in different provinces.”
While living in Calgary, her future husband Brian was visiting some friends. They met, fell in love, moved back to London together and got married.
Carter is currently the only sibling living in London. Most of her siblings live in Toronto, while one lives in Switzerland, one lives in San Diego and another lives in Sudbury, Ont.
“We Zoom every day at 11 a.m.,” she said.
Carter adds that the best advice she can give on how to live a long and happy life is to “always try to forgive and forget, and look to your siblings for support.”
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