You may be here because you’re ready to donate eggs, or even freeze your own eggs, but you want to know more information about the human experience behind that process. 

You may be here because you or your partner are experiencing infertility in some capacity, and you want to know more information about the human experience that comes with that diagnosis. 

You may be here because you don’t carry the infertility diagnosis, but you’ve been in the TTC community for years and are afraid of what may come next if you do get that diagnosis. 

You may be here because you are a child born out of IVF or donor egg conception and want to know about what it took for your parents to bring you into this world. 

You may be here out of curiosity only. 

Regardless of why you’re here, I hope in your time with us you can learn a little something about this world, a little something about supporting yourself or a loved one, or a little something that makes you more compassionate towards the community that faces this world on a daily basis. 

My name is Emily, and I am a 20-something who has carried an infertility diagnosis since her teens. 

Around the age of 13, I was diagnosed with Primary Ovarian Failure (POF), a condition commonly referred to as “early menopause.” POF impacts around 1-2% of women worldwide and less than 0.1% of women are diagnosed before the age of 30. I was exceedingly rare. 

At the time of diagnosis, the physicians surmised that my body produced antibodies that attacked my ovaries, causing them to stop growing around the ages of 5-8 years old. Because I was diagnosed pre-puberty, there was a near 0% chance that I had any mature eggs that could produce children in the future. 

My doctors always told me I was facing a future of IVF if I ever wanted to have kids. For a long time, it was my “fun fact” or “party trick” that I would whip out at the drop of a hat - “my body ate my ovaries when I was 5, beat that!!” 

And then I got to my 20’s. I met my wonderful husband, Adam, and I saw a future, my future.

But I saw that future with kids. 

Enter Abby, my wonderful, vivacious, fiercely protective little sister. 

Because I was diagnosed with POF at such a young age, I knew I would need someone else’s eggs since long before I even had the thought of having my own kids. When the relationship between Adam and I started to get serious, I approached Abby to get her thoughts on egg donation. 

At the time, Abby was a high schooler, focused primarily on her fashion, who she would sit with at lunch, and how much homework she had when she got home. 

Without even thinking, Abby responded to my life-changing question with:

“To be honest, I thought I would have to carry the child too,

so yeah, yeah you can have the eggs.” 

With that one, simple, slightly snarky response, both of our lives changed forever. 

Now, as a married woman in her mid-to-late 20’s, and a single woman in her early 20’s, we are conquering the world of infertility, egg donation, and all the scary feelings that come along with it. 

WELCOME TO THE CLUB.