EVERY now and again, Sarah Crooke wonders if people who look like her are relatives she has not met.
It crosses her mind because she knows very little about the people who provided the egg and sperm for the embryo that became her in an IVF clinic 20 years ago.
Aside from some notes on their physical characteristics and interests, Sarah only knows that a woman used donated sperm to create embryos and when she was finished having children, donated the rest to a couple, rather than dispose of them like many do each year.
Sarah’s parents, Karen Boyd and Terry Crooke, were the lucky recipients. After struggling for 10 years to have children, they were one of the first Australian couples to receive someone’s surplus embryos in 1993, including the ones that became their beloved twin daughters, Sarah and Rebecca.
A few years later, a couple in New South Wales who had completed their family gave them another embryo, which created their son William, who is now 13.
Ms Boyd, 57, remains eternally grateful for the donations and says she cannot imagine loving her children any more. ”I’ve treasured every step of the way,” she said.
Despite going through the process decades ago, Ms Boyd’s experience is still rare today. While the number of people donating embryos has steadily grown in Australia since 1990, only 36 babies were born as a result in 2009, including 17 in Victoria.
At the same time, demand for donations has soared. Researchers estimate demand is now outstripping supply by about 20 to one, meaning hundreds of people are on waiting lists at IVF clinics hoping for an embryo.
Research by lawyers at the University of Technology Sydney has shed some light on why so few are available. After surveying more than 300 people with embryos in storage, they discovered many had difficulty deciding what to do with those they were not going to use. For many, it was a confronting issue they had never considered until they got a letter telling them their storage time was nearly up. Read full article.