Egg Donor Stories

I was born with red hair, pale skin and green eyes. When I was a child it never crossed my mind what I looked like, but my Dad would say I had beautiful golden hair. Going into my tweens and teens I become more aware of myself and sometimes wished away my red hair and pale skin. Today I am proud of my physical attributes, I am unique and I needed to help a few others with the same hair, eye and skin colour as me, Dad was right.

Another thing about me that I am mostly grateful for is feeling deeply for others who are going thru incredible emotions, challenges and pain.

Growing up, we are a family of 3 girls, my aunts and uncles all had 2 or 3 kids each, Christmas was loud and our cousins were our very first best friends.

Our family was a family’s family, all the families we were connected with had kids, our home was a train station of people.

But there was one couple who always arrived at our house alone, the lady would give the best hugs and ask so many questions about our lives, gave us incredibly beautiful gifts, her love for the children was a real thing. She didn’t have any children and her eyes looked sad.

She played on my mind a lot, I would ask my parents why she didn’t have kids, as that was the norm, I guess still is the norm? If you’re a grown up you have to have kids, it’s unnatural not to. My parents told me the couple didn’t have kids yet but maybe one day they would. I later learned of the harrowing journey they went thru in trying to get pregnant, countless IVF cycles, miscarriages and total heart break. Their story never left my mind. I remember being in a high school Biology class, the one and only Bio class I paid any attention to was about IVF and egg donation, I was fascinated and in my mind signed up to become an egg donor immediately. I made a few calls for personal reference in our area, egg donation back then was in a grey area and not many medical facilities advertised that they did egg donation, it seemed very secretive and almost illegal. So, if IVF didn’t work for someone, the only other option was adoption, I felt heart sore for people wanting to feel what it felt like to carry their own child.

Scrolling thru Facebook one day an advert popped up for Egg donation thru a company in South Africa, I couldn’t click fast enough.

My egg donation journey began.

I went thru the process of being signed up for egg donation, the process is very thorough and I learned a lot about myself and my family history. My uniqueness was my red hair, pale skin and green eyes. When I was chosen to be a donor for the first time, my heart burst. A family had chosen me, ME, of all the donors in the world, someone similar attributes, interests and personality to me, had chosen me!

I was fortunate enough to donate a few times, I am blessed with fertility, getting a tiny glimpse into the unspoken world of infertility was intense to say the least. The stories of heart ache, loss and failure are many. I think of the families that I donated for everyday, I will never know them but I am connected to them in such an incredible way and that is enough for me. No, those are not my children, those were my eggs, which helped in a process so much bigger than me, I was lucky to be a part of that process. What humans go thru in their lives to be able to have a baby of their own is incomprehensible.

I feel so fortunate to have been able to have helped a few people realize their dream of having a baby, being an egg donor is one of the greatest things I’ve ever done, and I’m so happy I didn’t chang my red hair, pale skin and green eyes.

Donor P

My journey has been nothing short of fabulous.

Having asked hundreds of questions, and after weeks of producing the “perfect egg”, Lebo* had a smooth and rewarding path to donation.

From that first email saying ‘You have been chosen as a donor’, to the last nervous moments in theatre when the doctor said ‘You’re going to feel a little light headed, but you won’t remember a thing’, my journey with Grace Donors has been nothing short of fabulous.

The whole process seemed to fly by so quickly. Once the paperwork was sorted and the initial appointments with the doctors were done, there was no looking back – I was on my way to changing someone’s life forever.

The injections initially seemed so daunting, but after the first one, I knew I would be just fine. The next two weeks of doctors’ appointments, healthy eating (a little insanity on my part in trying to produce the perfect egg), and injections went well.

On that Monday morning, after getting stuck in traffic and getting lost a bit because of nerves, I got to the hospital to the friendly staff who reassured me that everything was fine and I began to relax. I wish I could have watched the actual retrieval, that’s how excited I was about doing this, but doctor knows best…so it was lights out for me. After an hour (Im guessing), I woke up to a little pain and discomfort, but it was done. After a few days of bed rest and light activity, my journey as a donor had ended.

I pray that in my giving, a new family has been born. May God guide you and bless you in your new journey as parents and a family. My love and prayers are forever with you.

Donor R

I became a donor because I have two amazing daughters, I cannot imagine my life without them. It got me thinking how blessed I am to have these amazing little people in my life who give me endless joy, it has shaped my life in such a way that I cannot imagine my life if I had a different outcome with my life path (childless). So how blessed am I truly? And what about other people who cannot have a child because they are missing one key component? How can I help?

If I view the process of creating life in the same manner as baking a cake, the recipe requires milk (sperm), sugar (energy and love), flour (carbohydrates for growth), Baking soda (rise, rise, rise!) eggs (ingredient binding and protein), an oven (womb) okay I can stop right there, my recipient has almost everything needed, but the eggs are missing! I have this in abundance, and just like regular store-bought eggs, at the end of the month, mine are going to expire… So instead of letting them go to waste, why not give them to a recipient, as it can change their life? We truly do not know the heartache that recipients feel as each circumstance is individual, but what I can tell you is, anyone who is willing to go to great lengths to have a child of their own is so deserving! For some, they have waited years…

We are responsible for raising the next generation, to be conscious beings with good morals, and I bet not only would my recipients succeed at this, but they will also cherish every single moment of their long-awaited baby’s precious moments, right from pregnancy- being mindful of their nutrition and health, to birth planning, taking photos of toes at every angle until it is just right (a little down! A little left!), spending endless hours researching many topics related to each milestone, sleepless nights and sweet baby breath ensuring every inch of the baby is looked after, after all, a baby doesn’t come with a manual, but he/she comes with amazing parents that went through devastating life experiences to have their bundle of joy. Wow, this child will be so loved and not only have the best start to his or her life but a prosperous and well-planned future too!

Now, enough about my story and why I became a donor, and on to the bits of my donor experience with Grace and why I chose them in the first place…

It took a while to make an informed decision, as the formal decision was already made, but with whom do I go forward? Which agency has the same values and morals as I do? I am already a blood as well as bone & marrow donor, so this needed to be right; I can tell you that I looked at many agencies however I cannot list their names, and none struck me as “right” until I came across Grace, their bio, what they stand for and their very personal experiences with infertility struck me. That little bit of being treated like family? Oh, they do… They care, check-in and always make sure that you are doing well and managing with the process.

The application process went so smoothly, and before I knew it, I was a registered donor after very thorough and professional assessments.

The day I received an email “You have been chosen as a Donor xxx!” The experience of the psychological evaluation, medical evaluation, and blood work went great, the results were perfect! I had my support by my side every step of the way, Lee-Ann answered all my questions and was always there to reassure me that I am on the right track. Every doctor visit that followed went perfectly; I was looked after when it came to my health. Many injections later, it was time for retrieval, and I knew my health and life were in professional, experienced, caring, and capable hands.

Overall, this was an amazing experience, my recovery went well, and being a donor is time-consuming but so very rewarding for the end outcome.  You’re giving an ingredient that is a missing component to life! I am truly proud of Grace for their professionalism as well as caring nature, they are affiliated with like-minded, amazing doctors and they are making such a huge difference in people’s lives.

Being an egg donor is one of the most rewarding experiences, it is an honour to be on board with such an amazing team.  I 100% back them and what they believe in, they are on the right track, and I will continue being an available donor with Grace.

Donor M