​WHAT HAPPENS WHEN YOU DONATE SPERM?

Thinking of applying to be a sperm donor with Semovo but want to know what’s involved?

Here we explain a little bit more about the sperm donor process, so you know what to expect when you join our donor sperm bank.

Throughout every one of these stages, you’ll be supported by your local Semovo Donation Team.

We have a dedicated, professional and friendly Donation Team at every one of our regional sperm donation clinics, providing our sperm donors with personal care and help throughout the donation process:

Apply online

We first need to know if you’re suitable to be a Semovo sperm donor, so we have a few very basic questions for you. We just need to know at this stage:

• -Your age - only men aged 18-45 can be Semovo sperm donors
• -If you’re adopted – we can only proceed your application if you know, or are able to find out, your immediate family’s medical history
• -If there is any history of genetic or inheritable conditions in your family

You can fill in your sperm donor application online, it only takes a few minutes. We’ll review your information and get back to you within a couple of days.

Implications appointment and semen analysis

We now need to see if your sperm is up to the job of being donor sperm. Donor sperm has to be exceptional in count and quality, not only so it can withstand the processes of fertility treatment, but to give the people who use your donated sperm – from single women and same-sex couples to couples with male factor fertility problems – the best chance of pregnancy.

You give us a sample of your sperm –we have discreet and comfortable private donation rooms – and our laboratory team check it under the microscope. We look at how well your sperm swims, its shape and how much sperm you have.

We’ll let you know as soon as we can if your sperm is suitable, but don’t worry if it turns out your sperm isn’t the right quality. This doesn’t mean you’re infertile and can’t get someone pregnant. It just means that your sperm won’t do so well being frozen and thawed, or used through fertility treatments such as IVF or ICSI.

At your semen analysis appointment we’ll also take the opportunity to have a chat with you, so we can explain more about what happens next.

You give us urine and blood samples for screening purposes – we need to check that you have no STIs, diseases or illnesses such as HIV or Hepatitis.

Doctor consultation

Once your semen analysis is complete you’ll see one of our Consultants who will go through your medical history with you.

Counselling

You will also speak to one of our specialist counsellors. This is to make sure you fully understand what it means to be a sperm donor.

We encourage you to include your partner in the Counselling session. It’s worth noting too that counselling sessions can be carried out online if that’s more convenient for you. It’s the 21st century, after all.

Counselling addresses all the implications of sperm donation that you may not even have thought about – including how your donation could affect those within your own family now and in the future.

You’ll only become a Semovo sperm donor if you’re completely happy and comfortable in your decision to donate with us.

Consent

Consent forms are the last step before sperm donation actually begins but one of the most important. Your consent form gives permission for your donated sperm to be used in fertility treatments. We’ll help you to fill in these forms correctly, explain what it means for you, and your rights over your donated sperm including your right to withdraw consent at any time and how many families can be created using your sperm.

Your first sperm donations

You can now begin donating to us, but your sperm won’t be used to help make babies just yet. We need to build up a big enough supply first, and make sure your sperm is still safe to use.

You’ll need to donate your sperm roughly every week, for around six months. This need for regular donation is one of the reasons we offer regional donation clinics – we’re the only donor sperm bank in the UK that does. It’s so you can donate locally to you, whenever it’s convenient. Many of our sperm donors donate on the way to work, or on the way home, or at weekends.

Each sperm donation you give us during this time will be frozen and stored by us in ‘quarantine’. Each sample must be kept in quarantine for six months.

You’ll also be rescreened to ensure you’re still free from any infectious diseases.

Personal sperm donor profile

You’ll now be invited to complete your sperm donor profile. It’s what patients use to decide if you’re the sperm donor for them, so it’s your opportunity to tell them all about yourself – your likes, interests, hobbies, your personality and why you decided to donate. You can also include a personal message to anyone that uses your sperm, and any child that’s born.

Your profile also includes basic information like your height, weight, eye and hair colour, and what you do for a living. But it doesn’t have any identifying information.

Don’t worry too much if you’re not sure what to put. Our dedicated Donation Team are here to help you complete your profile so it really gets across who you are and why you’re a great sperm donor, should you wish.

First samples released

With six months worth of your sperm donations in quarantine in our sperm donor bank, enough time has almost passed for your very first batch of sperm donations to be released for patient use. But first you’re rescreened again.

If clear, great news - you’re now an official registered Semovo sperm donor. Those first early sperm donations can now be used to help people have families. Your profile is added to our sperm donor bank, ready to be matched to patients.

All samples released

Six months after your last donation we will screen you one final time and if clear, all your sperm donations we have in quarantine are released for use.

You can contact us to ask if any patients have chosen you as their sperm donor, and if your sperm has been successfully used. We can let you know if a baby has been born, the year of its birth and its gender.

Because that’s what sperm donation is all about. Knowing you’ve created a family means the sperm donation process was worth it - a baby has been born entirely thanks to you.

Join Semovo – sperm donation on your terms

So why not join us? We’re the sperm donor bank of choice for men who wish to donate sperm in the UK, making it easy to donate sperm through our clinics in Manchester, Cheshire, Liverpool, Leeds and soon Glasgow, London and Birmingham. Having a chat to our team on 0345 266 1272.

You can also come and meet us at this year’s Fertility Show at Manchester Central (25-26 March). Our team will be there to help you with any enquiries you have about becoming a Semovo sperm donor. Book your tickets here.