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Comment by quaquaqua1 | Hacker News Reader

I was conceived in this manner and I only found out thanks to Ancestry DNA. There's at least 20 of us out there who are in contact with each other. It's really cool to have so many siblings, and I am very happy to be alive.

It is said to think that my biological father is probably dead. He was apparently a Vietnam vet who needed some extra money. I'm glad he did what he did.

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This reminded me of a recent story in The New York Times: "I'm 20. I Have 32 Half Siblings. This Is My Family Portrait"[1].

[1] https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2019/06/26/magazine/sper...

High numbers though. Do you know why they used ur biological father's sperm repeatedly? Not enough sperm donors or ... strong sperm (resulting in more viable IVFs?)

I was told that the mothers were able to choose from a catalog which donor they wanted to use-- they listed things like race, ethnicity, occupation, height weight etc. So I suppose that some donors were used more than others.

A lot of us siblings live in the same area so while its conceivable that inbreeding is an issue, it's probably like a 1 in a few million chance that you meet a sibling randomly.

> There's at least 20 of us out there who are in contact with each other. It's really cool to have so many siblings, and I am very happy to be alive.

That's beautiful and I'm very happy for you and your siblings.

We're happy that you're alive too!

I'm so curious, what advice or insight would you have for parents or children whose conception was supported by a donor?

Woohoo :) My parents were instructed not to tell me. When I found out they told me not to tell anyone. I could've told my grandpa that I "wasn't his", but I didn't. He shortly died of an illness thereafter. So I think it wouldn't have been good timing.

I would say that it's important to not make it into a big deal. I think it's cool and I am grateful they spent the money and went through the extra pain of conceiving that way. There's no need for drama and tears :)

Are you a member of We Are Donor Conceived on FB?

Your half-siblings, do they look like you?

We all look like carbon copies of each other, it's incredible. Auburn hair, a ridge on the tip of our nose, thin eyebrows, olive skin. Regardless of our different mothers, it is unmistakeable that we are siblings. Really cool stuff!

sounds awesome, you should dna-test everyone that looks like you

If you've not seen this NYT Magazine feature, you'll probably enjoy it thoroughly:

https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2019/06/26/magazine/sper...

I will check it out, thanks!!

What do you think about this: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Genetic_sexual_attraction ?

Did you notice that you were particularly attracted to any of your half-siblings?

One of my siblings is extremely good looking, the rest are average in my opinion due to weight issues or some other non genetic thing. My opinion is also biased since I have a particular "type".

But I don't feel attracted to them, I mean, I only really feel attracted to someone based on their personality. And once I learn someone is my sibling, I think I'm influenced to not be attracted to them hahahaha

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