Tuesday, May 31, 2011

Wanted: Black Sperm Donors

DH and I long ago came to terms with the odd reality that there just aren't that many black men who are sperm donors.  Now, since we refuse to go back to Manhattan Cryobank and our preferred donor has yet to come back to our original bank we are back to square one.  There are maybe 50 active black sperm donors in the US right now.  I just quickly went thru the 12 largest banks, which probably covered 1,000 active donors and found 26 black donors.  There have to be hundreds of women needing sperm from black donors and we are all having to choose from this small pool.  I don't get it. It's frustrating and makes what is already a difficult process even more complicated.  Most of these banks I mentioned above are so over priced they aren't realistic options for us right now.
As for Manhattan Cryobank, I sent them an email asking for copies of all the paperwork and feedback on when I was informed of this 30% variation they allow for.  Several days later I got the paperwork but nothing about the variation.  I don't get it.  We specifically asked what count they guarantee.  That was the perfect opportunity for them to inform us of this policy.  Instead they failed to do this but held our sample to it after the fact.  It is my opinion that had the vial had a lower count they probably would have said they had a policy to allow for 35% variance.  Needless to say, these aren't the kind of people I want to do business with nor are they the kind of people I trust to receive biological materials from.  Since 6 of the donors I referred to above are from this bank we're now down to 20.  I guess it makes our decision easier - silver lining.

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