I just dropped a new podcast/website that 1) I’m really excited about and 2) I think you’ll really enjoy! It’s called “THE DONOR: A Modern Horror Story” and it’s a COMPLETELY TRUE STORY about a friend of mine named Hal.
The Donor
In the mid 1980’s Hal earned his way through medical school as an anonymous SPERM DONOR. To him, it was entirely transactional. In fact, after his last donation, he completely forgot he’d even done it…
Jump forward 25 years.
Now a successful radiologist, Hal signed on to 23AndMe curious about his health genes. It never occurred to him – or anyone at 23AndMe when Hal first signed on to the personal genomics site – that there are wider implications to contributing your DNA to a growing DNA database.
In Hal’s case, being part of that DNA database destroyed his anonymity as a sperm donor. Suddenly SEVEN STRANGERS FOUND “DADDY”.
As surprising as this was to Hal, it was far, FAR more surprising to his donor kids (all adults). Six of them had no idea whatsoever that they were the product of a sperm donation.
A Modern Horror Story
I call the podcast “A MODERN HORROR STORY” for that very reason. Could anything be more horrifying than learning – by accident – that you aren’t who you think you are?
Ironically, though Hal fathered at least seven children (he knew about a dozen successful impregnations when he quit donating sperm), Hal never got to raise any natural children of his own. He was married for 20 years to a woman who brought a son from a previous marriage into the relationship. For Hal, these donor kids presented a chance to experience something like having natural-born children. And, so, he embraced the idea of having his donor kids in his life.
Alas, things didn’t go the way Hal hoped.
One of his donor kids – BEKA – learned she was donor-conceived as a teenager. When she signed on to 23AndMe, she was looking for Hal. What started as a great relationship became something nightmarish and horrific. And, that, in turn, threatened all of Hal’s donor kid relationships.
I won’t give any more of the story away. But, I feel pretty secure in saying you probably haven’t heard a story quite like this ever before. So, check it out!
How It Works
We’re giving away Episode One “Who Am I?” for free. I hope you’ll find it compelling and surprising and hard to quit.
From there, if you want to hear the rest of Hal’s story, it’ll cost you a nominal $15. Here in LA? That’s a glass of house wine. A movie ticket. Two coffee drinks from Starbucks. The goal was to keep it “nominal”. Relatively painless.
Once you start listening to Hal’s story? We think you’ll agree. It was a bargain!
Now, it does go some pretty creepy places. Human relationships are strange things to begin with. Throw secrets and intense emotions into the mix and the whole concoction can quickly become explosive. Sexual, too.
We’ll explore a thing called “Genetic Sexual Attraction”. Because that, too, is part of our story. Like I said, I’m pretty sure you’ve never heard this story before. And once you’ve heard it? You’ll never be able to forget it.