Woman estimates hundreds of siblings of sperm donor father after DNA test

When Fiona Darroch started searching for books her godfather had written, she never expected what she would find: that the man was actually her biological father.

Dr. Norman “Tony” Walker, an obstetrician who had also given birth to her, had actually used his own sperm when Darroch’s mother was artificially inseminated.

The discovery came when Darroch found a strange review on Amazon six years ago, news.com.au reported.

In the review section on a book Dr. Walker had written, Anne Crossey in Ireland wrote that he had been her mother’s sperm donor and that she was looking for more information about him.

Crossey had unknowingly helped uncover a secret. Dr. Walker had been using his own sperm at a time when fertility treatment was taboo and sperm donations were rare.

The women who were artificially inseminated were given no details and apparently did not know that Dr. Walker was the donor.

Darroch, 57, decided to contact the woman because she had many letters that her “godfather” had written to her when she was a child and they had given her all her war medals and many photos.

“At the time I had no idea my true story,” he tells SBS Insight tonight.

“When I got his letters out, I found his driver’s license that he had given me when I was 16 years old. I showed it to my husband and said, ‘Who does this look like?’ and he just laughed, because he looks exactly like our youngest daughter.

“I went and talked to my mom and said, ‘Look, something’s going on here and I’d like you to tell me the truth.’ My mom was honest and told me that they had used a sperm donor, and that Dr. Walker was your gynecologist. “

Darroch is originally from South Africa, and since Dr. Walker committed suicide in 1977, it was difficult to find more information. His mother didn’t know much about the donation process.

It wasn’t until Darroch’s daughter had a DNA test done three years ago that she finally got confirmation.

It turned out that Dr. Walker had used his own sperm in countless cases.

“When the results came out, (my daughter) had hooked up with a lot of people and had no idea who they were,” she said.

“It so happened that one of my donor (half) siblings had tested his entire family for ancestry for Christmas that year, and we all agreed at the same time.”

Darroch and his half brother began to put the pieces together.

They were able to speak to one of the clinic staff members who worked with Dr. Walker, who confirmed that Darroch was not the first.

“My recently discovered youngest (half) brother is 14 years younger than me, so he must have been doing it for at least 15 years maybe more,” he said.

“So we thought maybe 200 to 300 (half siblings).”

The siblings you have identified are in the United States, Ireland, New Zealand, the United Kingdom, South Africa, and Australia.

It was like losing my own father, who raised me again, “he said.

“You experience the same pain and loss, because you are no longer connected to the person you thought you were connected to, and then you find that you are connected to all these new people. It’s quite tumultuous. It’s a very difficult road.”

In 2018, Darroch and his donor siblings who share the same mother, as well as a half-brother and sister couple from the US met in Australia for the first time.

The half brother, named Greg, grew up believing he was of German descent and had had a DNA test with the same company.

“My test showed that I had not had a German ancestor in five generations. This was clearly a surprise,” he told the Sunday Times.

“My dad died in 2000 so I couldn’t ask him. And then Fiona’s daughter suddenly appeared on the site as my niece.

“I contacted Fiona and she explained everything. I knew she was right because Dr. Walker was a friend of the family. I remember how upset my mother was when she found out that he had died.”

Dr. Walker’s biological children and grandchildren have not undergone genetic testing to definitively confirm the link to any donor children.