How I became an egg donor is kind of funny. About a year ago, I heard an ad about becoming an egg donor on Pandora. I took my headphones out and made a comment to my office mates about considering egg donation. The girl in the cube next to me very openly shared that she had been an egg donor and she very generously held nothing back and told me her story.
I remember immediately feeling that egg donation was a much more normal, real experience than I had believed beforehand. She then went on to explain she had been a known donor, which meant that she donated to a family friend through Shady Grove Fertility. Ultimately hearing her talk about their struggle to conceive and her experience donating with Shady Grove Fertility made me feel like egg donation was right for me.
I was at a stage in my life where I felt that my career was not emotionally fulfilling, and at the same time, I desperately wanted to visit London but couldn’t afford it. Becoming an egg donor was an opportunity that would fulfill both of my needs and desires: I could help other humans fill their lives with love, contribute to something bigger than myself, and finally make it across the pond. Why wouldn’t I apply to become an egg donor?
Becoming an Egg Donor – The Application
I filled out the initial application and within 24 hours was invited to complete my Egg Donor Profile. I think I looked over the profile a few times before committing to finishing it—I had to supply not only info about myself but family history—and it can be a bit intimidating at first.
I went to my parents’ house and collected my childhood photos. My mom and I are really close and I typically tell her just about everything so I took the opportunity to tell her I was interested in becoming an egg donor. I also needed some family history information to complete the profile so I thought she would be my best source of information. While she was very hesitant and concerned about my future fertility by donating all of my eggs (which I later learned is a common misconception and isn’t actually true), she was supportive and agreed to share our family history with me. I took my time submitting the profile because, very honestly, my mom’s hesitation made me slow down and truly consider all aspects of my decision as well as impress upon me the importance of learning as much as I could about the process.
After taking time to consider everything, I submitted my Egg Donor Profile within a few weeks. Soon after, I was selected to move to the next step: baseline bloodwork and ultrasound to measure my current fertility (aka would I be a good egg donor).
It was the first time I’d actually seen my uterus and, quite honestly, I loved learning and being able to then share the knowledge I acquired about female fertility. I’ve always been passionate about learning new things, it doesn’t matter what the subject matter, I just enjoy it. I love educating others with my new knowledge in any setting, and Shady Grove Fertility gave me an opportunity to really delve into fertility and female health—things I’ve now come to enjoy advocating for.
Becoming an egg donor was one of the best decisions of my life, so much so that I decided to make a welcomed career change and am now working with Shady Grove Fertility as a donor recruiter. I felt so passionate and positive about my experience, I couldn’t wait to share it with more women so that they, too, could experience the same. Stayed tuned for the next part of my story—how my testing and donation went.
If you are interested in becoming an egg donor, call Joanna at 1-877-DONATE-EGGS.
About Joanna:
My name is Joanna and I’ve donated my eggs twice at Shady Grove Fertility. Becoming an egg donor has been the best and most impactful decision I’ve made in life so far. Seriously.
I recently joined the egg donor team at SGF because I wanted to help women better understand the process so that they can also have this experience. Being a part of this phenomenal team gives me the opportunity to share my personal recommendations AND be able to help other women through the process. So, here goes my heartfelt recommendations to you.
