Sperm Donor Father Ends His Anonymity - New York Times
The New York Times

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February 14, 2007
Sperm Donor Father Ends His Anonymity
By
AMY HARMON

There is no established ritual for how an anonymous sperm donor should
contact his genetic children. But for Jeffrey Harrison, Valentine's Day
seemed as
good an occasion as any.

"It's a short life," he said, "and these children need to have some kind of
resolution. I thought I could send a little valentine, kind of, to everyone,
just saying hello."

Mr. Harrison had been thinking about getting in touch since reading in an
article in The New York Times 15 months ago that two teenagers whose mothers
had
used his sperm to conceive were looking for him. The headline, "Hello, I'm
Your Sister, Our Father Is Donor 150," made him choke on his coffee, said
Mr.
Harrison, who made $400 a month donating sperm under that number
twice-weekly during the late 1980s.

But California Cryobank, the sperm bank that had promised anonymity to its
customers and to Mr. Harrison, proved unresponsive to his repeated requests
for
assistance. Besides, he had misgivings. What if the girls were disappointed
by his humble circumstances?

Once one of the sperm bank's most-requested donors, with a profile that
described him as 6 foot and blue-eyed with interests in philosophy, music
and drama,
Mr. Harrison, 50, lives with his four dogs in a recreational vehicle near
the Venice section of Los Angeles.

"I make a meager living," Mr. Harrison said, taking care of dogs and doing
other odd jobs.

Still, he said he thought he could explain to the girls why he had taken an
unconventional life-path. Their grandfather was an
Ivy League
-educated retired financial executive, he would tell them; their grandmother
was a former volunteer president for the Society for the Prevention of
Cruelty
to Animals.

Six weeks ago, Mr. Harrison logged on to the Donor Sibling Registry, the Web
site devoted to facilitating connections between donor-conceived offspring,
where the two girls, Danielle P. and JoEllen M. had initially found each
other. Four more teenagers from his sperm samples had since surfaced, he saw
on
the logs.

How many could he handle, he wondered?

As Valentine's Day approached, though, Mr. Harrison resolved to get in touch
with them all.

Last Saturday night, Mr. Harrison e-mailed a picture of his birth
certificate to Wendy Kramer, the founder of the sibling registry, to confirm
his identity.
Several dozen donors have contacted offspring on the registry, Ms. Kramer
said, but none have been brave enough to come forward with such a large
group
of teenagers.

"You don't know what to expect," Ms. Kramer said. "How do we define this
family, and what are we to each other?"

Danielle and JoEllen called Mr. Harrison together the next day. The moment
that had preoccupied their fantasies for years began in a more prosaic
fashion
than they had anticipated. But they said they were not disappointed.

"The first thing he said was, 'Holy moly,' " said Danielle, 17, who has
spent several hours on the phone with Mr. Harrison in the last three days.
"He's
sort of a free spirit, and I don't care what career he has. I got to talk to
his dogs."

Mr. Harrison met a third daughter, Ryann M., in Los Angeles yesterday
afternoon. His other newfound offspring, who live in Colorado, Florida, New
York and
Pennsylvania, are busy marveling over their shared love of animals and the
distinctive forehead evident in the pictures he has e-mailed.

Copyright 2007
The New York Times Company