A complimentary letter from their mother’s fertility doctor led a woman and her twin sister to learn he was their father after he covertly inseminated their mother with his own sperm.
Helen Edel and her twin sister Anne Smee, both 62 years old, spent 40 years looking for their biological father.
Ms. Edel told Daily Mail Australia that her mother desperately wanted a child in 1959, but her father was sterile.
Her aunt, a physician at Sydney’s Balmain Hospital, directed her to Dr. John Doherty, a ‘pioneering’ gynecologist and obstetrician who was ‘assisting women’.
Helen Edel (pictured) and her 62-year-old identical twin sister Anne Smee spent forty years hunting for the sperm donor of their mother.
Ms. Edel and her sister were born in 1960, and it was not until 20 years later, during an altercation with their stepfather, that they learned they were created with the assistance of a donor.
He is not your father, he is not your father, their stepfather stated of their mother’s first husband.
Ms. Edel stated, “All of a sudden, we discover that our father who raised us was not actually our father.”
Ms. Edel and her sister persuaded their mother to contact Dr. Doherty and get sperm donor identification records.
To their amazement, Dr. Doherty responded to their letter with a thorough description of the anonymous donor.
He is of the fourth generation of Australians. The letter described a woman with black hair, brown eyes, around 5 feet 10 inches in height, olive skin, and a medium build.
Physically, he was seen as a ruggedly handsome young guy with a square face and strong teeth when he smiled. He was really athletic.
Mr. Doherty confirmed that the donor was a physician, but he refused to disclose his identity or medical history.
In 2003, around twenty years later, Ms. Edel joined a Donor Conception Support Group and posted the letter in the hopes of discovering new leads in her hunt for her biological father.
Ms. Edel stated, ‘The group replied, ‘That’s odd, it appears like he’s writing about himself’
Ms. Edel stated that the couple found they were donor conceived in their 20s and that their mother sought reproductive treatment at Sydney’s Balmain Hospital (pictured, Helen and Anne as babies)
Dr. Doherty was deceased, but Ms. Edel was able to find his son in Tamworth and get a DNA sample from him.
‘Surprise! We shared the same DNA percentage as his son. Dr. Doherty was our father,’ explained Ms. Edel.
Ms. Edel felt both’relief’ and’sadness’ upon learning that the doctor had used his sperm without her mother’s consent.
Ms. Edel stated, “It was the conclusion of an identity crisis, therefore it was somewhat of a relief to find out where we came from, who our father was, our bloodline, and our DNA.”
However, there was also some sadness because he wanted nothing to do with us and everything was a secret.
Ms. Edel stopped for a moment before responding that she believes Dr. Doherty used his own sperm because he wanted to help ladies who badly wanted children but didn’t consider the wider issue.
The identical twins realized they have an additional half-sister who was donor conceived by Dr. Doherty.
‘The possibility that there are others going around with the same DNA as us causes us some concern. What would occur if their children interacted with ours?’ Ms Edel said.
The doctor gave the couple a letter explaining the sperm donor in detail but refused to reveal his identity. After 20 years, a DNA test with his son revealed that the doctor was their biological father (pictured, Helen and Anne as teenagers)
She feels that Australian clinics should maintain a thorough record of sperm donors and a precise donor registry so that children do not feel as though they are descended from a phantom.
Ms. Edel stated, “They must register donors and record their medical history.”
“Their jobs, as well as their personal lives, require a great deal more transparency.
Then, when the baby is born, they will say, “Well, dad donated his sperm, he was this, this, and this,” and they will have a photograph and a story about him.
Because you don’t want to feel as if you came from a ghost, they must alter it.
In Australia, healthy men between the ages of 21 and 45 can donate sperm as a de-identified (identify withheld from recipient) or identified donor.
The recipients and donor-conceived children are provided with non-identifying information, such as interests, physical description, medical history, and family history.
Ms. Edel’s tale will be featured on the SBS documentary “Inconceivable: The Secret Business of Breeding Humans.” The one-hour documentary follows journalist Sarah Dingle (pictured) as she searches for her biological father.
Once a donor-conceived child reaches the age of 18, they have access to their name, date of birth, and address.
Victoria, New South Wales, and Western Australia maintain centralized sperm donor registries, whilst other states and territories rely on fertility clinics to maintain donor information.
Ms. Edel’s story will feature on SBS’s ‘Inconceivable: The Secret Business of Breeding Humans’ on Tuesday night.
Based on journalist Sarah Dingle’s hunt for her biological father, the one-hour documentary shows the ‘highly immoral and pathologically hidden business’ of Australia’s IVF industry.