Blog written by Laboratory Staff CD
A few weeks ago I attended my husband’s office holiday party, and while chatting with a large group of my husband’s coworkers the question of what I do came up. Sometimes I will tell people I work in a research lab to avoid some of the embarrassing questions that always come up when talking about my job, but tonight I was feeling chatty so I said worked in a cryobank.
Of course everyone quickly realized that meant “Sperm Bank”. As usual there were lots of giggles and a few outrageous questions, but for the most part everyone was really curious and surprised to hear about all the rigorous testing and high standards we require for donors. I answered the serious questions and laughed off the silly ones, and after a while the conversation moved on.
About a week ago, my husband told me that a female coworker had stopped him in the hall. This coworker had been at the party with her husband and had overheard the conversation about my job. She told him that they had been trying to get pregnant for a while and had been recently been diagnosed with Male Factor Infertility. Their doctor had told them that using donor sperm might be their best chance for a pregnancy, but her husband refused to even consider it. Like most people, he associated the sperm banks with the unregulated, “walk in off the street and get paid” image portrayed on TV and in the movies and he did not trust the industry to help them.
She went on to say that her husband had been surprised to hear what I had to say about my job, and a few days after the party had finally consented to take a look at some sperm bank information. She wasn’t sure if he was willing to use donor sperm yet, but at least now he was considering it an option. She thanked my husband for bringing me to the party and credited me with helping her husband see past his prejudice against semen donation.
My husband said he was a little taken aback that this woman told him something so personal, but apparently by talking about it openly at the party we had helped her and her husband feel more comfortable about the whole subject. It also surprised both of us that our random conversation at a party had been so helpful to them. I never thought simply talking about my job might have such an effect on people’s lives, and it was good to hear that even though most people were laughing, someone was really listening and learning.
