Heather Brooks, RN
Co-Owner and Director of Client Care at Fertility Match
Liz Ellwood
Co-Owner, Founder, and Director of Operations at Fertility Match
Fertility Match is a fertility consulting company in Canada that works with Intended Parents and fresh Egg Donors, specializing in egg donation.
Approximately half of the clients we work with at Fertility Match are men looking to have a family with the help of an egg donor and surrogate – either because they’re in a same-sex relationship, or they’re a single person seeking to become a parent. We feel very privileged to be a part of these journeys. There’s nothing more incredibly than a literal village of people – your donor, your surrogate, your fertility doctor/clinic, your lawyers, your agency, your counsellor and more – coming together to help make your family a reality.
Although the path to parenthood for members of the LGBTQ community can be difficult, with some expertise and support, it is possible and fulfilling for all involved” – Fertility Matters Canada
Regardless of their parent’s gender or marital status, some children will simply have a natural desire to meet their egg donor while others may not. We simply won’t know until they tell us. So, designing a program where the door is open for he/she/they to walk through, if desired, was our major priority. And the only way we figured we could do that was to only accept donors who would be willing to fulfill this request if desired by a child. So that’s what we did from the start. The donors you see on our database are all open to meeting a child one day, and the majority of them are open to having a known relationship as defined by a legal contract (also known as an Ovum Donation Agreement) with the recipient(s) and the child if desired.
Fertility Match deals exclusively with fresh egg donations, working with only the very best professional partners across the country. Since our inception in 2017, we’ve focused on developing our program structure with the best interests of the children and families we are helping to create at the forefront of what we do. One of things we’re most proud of is that we have never facilitated an anonymous egg donation. All Egg Donors on our database are at minimum required to be willing to meet a child or children born from their donation after he/she/they turn 18 years of age. We also facilitate known donation, meaning intended parent(s) and donors can meet any time after the donation has occurred if both parties wish to do so.
The clients-turned-parents in our program report feeling a sense of reassurance that the donor they selected is open to meeting their child or children one day. They feel relieved knowing that their egg donor welcomed this from the start and that their child or children won’t be left trying to track down their genetic origins through a social genetic testing company one day, which may not lead them to the information or peace they want or need. They feel sound in their choice, knowing they can one day tell their children they worked with an Egg Donation agency that put their child’s right to know where they biologically came from, as well as access to family health information first. When you have a moment, we encourage you to watch this video where we discuss Fertility Match’s Egg Donation Program as well as the benefits of selecting an Egg Donor willing to meet your child or children one day.
The egg donors in our program are educated, healthy, committed and altruistically-motivated young woman who want to donate to people who will make great parents. The donors we accept into our program come to us interested in donating their eggs for different reasons; they’re friends with a same-sex couple they know would make amazing parents, they saw the pain a loved one experienced from infertility while they were growing up, or they feel a sacrifice from them can change someone else’s entire universe. Regardless of their reasoning, it all boils down to the same thing in the end: they want to do something good for someone in need. Outside of specific medical criteria, this is the spirit of what we look for in every one of our Donors; genuinely wanting to help others.
Although the path to parenthood for members of the LGBTQ community can be difficult, with some expertise and support, it is possible and fulfilling for all involved
If you’d like to learn more about us, our team of professionals or our egg donation program, please connect with us by visiting our contact page. We would love the opportunity to connect with you and figure out if egg donation could be your first step towards building your family.
