Finding you a great match is the really exciting part for us – it’s where the magic happens!
As soon as you decide to go ahead with egg donation, we will ask you to provide a current photograph of yourself. Using the photo, we have already received from the recipient, we will start by considering the physical similarities between you both, including height, weight, ethnicity, hair colour and type and eye colour.
Getting this right is the easy bit and generally fairly straightforward. The next step of finding a match in terms of background, education, interests, and the types of people you both are, can sometimes take a little longer. That said, as extraordinary as it often seems, the right person seems to always come along at exactly the right time for whoever needs help, and things usually slot nicely into place!
If you are responding to a personal appeal from someone, then unless you are very different, you will most likely be donating eggs to them.
A match between egg donor and recipient
Here’s a typical example of how well this can work:
‘Sarah’ came to us in need of an egg donation. She had been trying for a baby for over five years, and after several early miscarriages, eventually discovered that she carried a gene that prevented her from having children. She was a chef, loved cats, hated spiders and enjoyed going to concerts (particularly Glastonbury). She had a great sense of humour, and even listed all the comedians and comedies she loved to watch on TV. She described herself as fun, bubbly and always wanting people to feel that she had time for them.
She advertised for a donor and we waited and waited for someone to come forward. No-one did.
Many months later, ‘Anna’ just happened to be taking her toddler to her health centre for routine jabs. Whilst waiting she picked up a magazine and saw one of our adverts – which by then was several months out of date. She had already considered donating eggs but didn’t know how to start the egg donation process, so just on the off chance she gave us a ring. Her opening words to us were: “I would just love to help, but I don’t know if I can. I’m a chef and work long hours …”
Amazingly enough Sarah and Anna were an almost perfect physical match, and Anna’s ‘autobiography’ mirrored much of what Sarah had already said. Anna went on to become an egg donor and Sarah now has the child she longed for! It really can and does happen like that.
What information will I be given about the person I am helping?
Choosing to donate to a matched person, rather than to a general egg bank, makes this a very personal donation. It is therefore quite understandable that you would like to know as much as possible about the people you are donating eggs to, and why they need your help. On the other hand, you may not want to know anything at all and that is absolutely fine.
Exactly how much information can be disclosed will be down to whoever you will be helping – and, of course, down to how much you feel you would like to know. We will pass on as much non-identifying information as we can. This might include their approximate ages, what they do, why they need your help and how long they have been trying for a baby.