Sperm Donor Story: “Putting good Karma out there”

As I quickly reach my target of 100-vials, I thought it would be nice to reflect on my time donating.

I initially looked into sperm donating for two reasons,

1) I thought it would be a great thing to do to help other people. One day, I would like to start a family of my own, as a gay-man, I’m going to need some help of my own, so this is me putting some good karma out there.

2) This is a much more selfish reason, but also as a gay-guy, I had always wondered if my swimmers were up to scratch, I’d never put them to the test before and recently everyone I know and their sister is having a baby and I was left curious, wondering if I was one of those guys with a ‘low sperm count.’ So I did some research online and contacted the London Sperm Bank. After being approved (I never realised at the time how selective they are and how fortunate I am in being chosen), I soon found myself trying to make regular visits to make my deposits.

I realised that I could fit in a visit first thing in the morning on the way to work, so every three days I would try to be one of the first visitors at the Harley Street clinic, greeted warmly by Marta or Siobhan and even though some people may find the purpose to the visit somewhat embarrassing or seedy (no pun intended), Marta and Siobhan were always very warm, friendly and polite and made every visit a pleasurable experience. Being there first thing, normally meant I rarely saw other guys at the clinic, and when I did, they were normally going through the initial signing up process, sat in reception filling out their forms, but as I’ve learnt, only one out of ten of those guys go on to be successful donors, so it felt odd at times being the only donor on site at the time.
When signing the daily visit forms, I could have any questions answered about previous samples, I was praised when samples tested well and encouraged to keep doing whatever it was that made my swimmers perky.

Sperm donors Christmas party
Another aspect of the experience I was not expecting was an invite to the donors Christmas party which was a really interesting opportunity to meet other guys who were going through the same experience as you, plus other men who have completed the donation process and have been informed that their samples have gone on to produce healthy births. It was nice to hear other stories, to meet the other guys and it was a reminder that what I was doing wasn’t as odd and solitary as it felt at times.

For my initial visits, some of my donations produced some rather odd results, on reflection I think the combination of the slightly clinical conditions, coupled with stress of producing a sample and getting to work, but once I got into the swing of things, got used to the process, I began to produce 5-vials on average per visit. If that had been consistent throughout, I could have completed my process in twenty visits and I now look to be finishing up with 30-34 visits, which has only taken four-months to complete, four rather interesting and mainly enjoyable months, four-months of being both disciplined and frustrated when it came to my sex life, but four-months which potentially could bring a wealth of joy to a number of potential parents.

My recommendation
If asked if I would recommend this experience to another man, I would do so, rather highly too, if you can fit it into your schedule, your love life etc, why wouldn’t you? To those who worry about these potential children one day tracking you down, I remind them that,

a) They can’t do that until they’re at least 18 and we have no financial or legal obligation to them and

b) Wouldn’t it be really cool to meet these strangers that you helped bring into this world, but were raised by complete strangers, loved by people with their own mannerisms, beliefs, interests and culture that you have no influence over, it would be really interesting to see what these children are like as individuals and who knows, we could even go for a drink and become mates!

There are no guarantees in this world, who’s to say anybody produced with these samples will be someone I even get-on with or even like? I have relatives who I have known my entire life, we share a proportion of DNA and family culture and I can’t stand them and the same may prove true to these children, but it’s not about their relationship with me that’s important, it’s about making their parents fulfilled and helping them realise their desire to have a family.

I will miss seeing Marta and Siobhan, but I hope to catch up with them at the summer donor’s party, and who knows, by the next Christmas party, my samples could already have been put to good use.