Kathleen
Kathleen was conceived on May 4, 1981 by an anonymous sperm donor from Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, Texas. Kathleen's mother was instructed to arrive at St. Luke's Hospital early in the morning to receive this insemination of fresh sperm provided by Dr. Young and his nurse MaryAnn. There is also a chance that her donor came from Dr. Schindler and his nurse Johnelle at OGA rather than St. Luke's since both clinics used Baylor donors. Although a donor with blue eyes was requested, there is no way to verify that this was honored. Kathleen has no other information about this man since recipient families were not given donor numbers, medical histories, information about heritage, or any other non-identifying information in the early 1980s. She has called the clinics numerous times over the past ten years in an attempt to access more information, but she was repeatedly told that all records were destroyed years ago. Even if records did exist, sperm was oftentimes mixed from more than one man prior to insemination, meaning that nobody knows the identity of her biological father.
With no medical records to assist, Kathleen xeroxed old Baylor College of Medicine yearbooks with the hopes that one man would stand out as her biological father. Instead, she realized there was no way to identity him from strangers when looking at hundreds of tiny black and white copies of yearbook pictures. She gradually sent letters to all 600 men who attended the school from 1979 to 1984. To her astonishment, 250 responded, 40 formerly anonymous donors contacted her, and she went through 14 paternity tests. All were negative.
Kathleen is still searching for her biological father in an attempt to have questions answered about herself, her heritage, and her biological family. She would also appreciate knowing her medical history, especially since she is diabetic. At the time of her conception, donors were not given the opportunity to know their donor children. Consequently, she decided to search for her sperm donor father to give him the chance to make that determination for himself. She never liked the fact that the clinic made the decision for both of them that they could not know one another, which fueled her desire to look for him. Kathleen would also like to find the rest of her paternal family, including half-siblings.
Kathleen's interests, appearance, and personality are different than her family members. Unlike her maternal cousins who range from 5'10" to 6'4" (females included!), Kathleen barely reaches 5'2". She has big, almost navy blue eyes that have never appeared in her mother's family. Her son has also inherited this trait, which Kathleen suspects originated from her paternal side. Because of her desire to take care of living things, Kathleen became the only vegetarian in her family at the age of seven, she conducted support groups for child survivors of sexual assault, and she completed her master's degree in clinical psychology. In an ironic twist, she is now employed in research at Baylor College of Medicine.
Kathleen is married with a 5-month old son (as of summer 2010). She would like for her son to meet his third grandfather.
If you recognize her face or have any information that could possibly help her, please e-mail her at KathleenRuby@aol.com.
