Matthew's Story

When I started donating to Semovo, I worked as a Supervisor in a Starbucks, but this year’s been full of ups and downs, so I then worked in a Morrisons for a while. I’m now at a Curry’s, and I’m hoping to start training as a teacher this September - in all honesty, donating has been a bit of motivation for me.

It's made me think of the person I want to be eighteen years from now. The person I’m helping to bring into the world might one day decide to meet me. I’m a keen reader and studied creative writing at university, so I spend a lot of my time reading and writing, both hobbies that 2020 can’t stand in the way of - and no prizes for guessing what I want to teach!

Donating sperm wasn’t something I’d considered until I stumbled across the advert for Semovo on Facebook, but when I saw it, I knew it was something I wanted to do. I’ve known people that can’t have kids of their own, no matter how much they want them, people I know would make the best parents one day, and I felt that if there was something I could do to help people like that, then I should, and here I am. My first samples are almost out of quarantine, so any day now, I can start helping those people I want to.

I didn’t do much external research on the process, but honestly, I didn’t have to. Semovo has been so helpful every step of the way, giving me all the information I could want and all the support necessary. They can’t prepare you for having awkward conversations at your donation appointments, but that’s a small price to pay for putting some good out there in the world, and you get used to it after a while. Apart from that, it’s a pretty straightforward process - you have to have blood tests taken pretty regularly, but there’s no real way to avoid that.

I’m quite happy with Semovo and the donation process in general and plan to continue donating with them. For a small bit of time out of your day, it’s a really rewarding feeling. If you’re considering applying, all I can recommend is that you do - there are people on hand to talk you through the whole thing, with a counselling session as well to allay any fears you might have. It doesn’t hurt to try, and you’re putting some good out there in the world as a result.