The dad with 1000 kids: Why this ‘broken’ mother-of-five fears her children will be forced to run background checks on every potential love interest – or face an unthinkable reality – as an entire state is put on alert
An Australian mother who has five children from the same sperm donor as her father has discovered he could have fathered as many as 1,000 children.
Shannon Ashton used freedom of information to obtain copies of the Queensland Fertility Group’s sperm freezing data after accidentally coming across several donor siblings of her own children in her local community.
She discovered that her children’s biological father had donated 239 times in four years.
The documents reveal that each sample can be split into four separate ampoules, with each of these ampoules capable of creating more than one embryo each.
Ms Ashton’s case is one of several that have rocked Queensland in recent months, prompting Health Minister Shannon Fentiman to order an investigation into the state-wide IVF industry to target ‘cowboy’ operators to grab.
In another case, Queensland gay couple Anastasia and Lexie Gunn are suing the same IVF clinic giant, claiming they used the wrong sperm to conceive two of their sons.
Shannon Ashton (pictured) has five children born through sperm donation from a Queensland fertility clinic, where she has since discovered a man has made hundreds of donations
Queensland Health Minister Shannon Fentiman (pictured) has ordered an investigation into the state’s IVF industry to tackle ‘cowboy’ operators
The father of Ms Ashton’s children is ‘Donor 188’, a blue-eyed ‘surfie’ type who she credits with contributing to her children’s sporting talent.
“I always knew he was a popular donor and my own research showed he probably had dozens of children, but these figures have devastated me,” Ms Ashton said. The courier post this week.
‘The document shows that his sample made four ampoules in one day, but in some cases a donation could be split up to sixteen times. If I keep it to the smallest possibility, the donor of my children could have 956 children or even more than 1,000 children.’
‘I would never have used it if I had any idea what was going on. It’s not the donor’s fault, but I did trust the process.’
Ms Ashton said that while she is extremely grateful to have the opportunity to be a parent, she now worries that her children will have to do background checks on any potential romantic partner to ensure they are not biologically related.
She said she was constantly “wracked with worry” about “casual incest”, given that her children and other donor siblings would all be around the same age and live in the same area.
She previously revealed how, after meeting the parents of another child at nursery and becoming friends, she discovered they too had used the same donor.
Mrs Ashton’s children are now 19, 17, 13, nine and six.
Ms Ashton described Donor 188 as the ‘typical Australian, sporty guy’. His profile stated that he had blond hair and blue eyes, liked surfing and was interested in science and math (photo, bottle from donor 188)
Ms Fentiman has said she will work with Queensland Attorney-General Yvette D’Ath to introduce legislation that would regulate the industry and bring the state into line with NSW, Victoria, WA, SA and Northern Territory frameworks.
In NSW a sperm donor is limited to five women, in Victoria 10 women and in Western Australia a maximum of five families – but Queensland currently has no laws guiding the fertility industry, so there are no legal donor limits.
IVF companies in the state often have their own ethical guidelines, such as following the Reproductive Technology Accreditation Committee’s advice that “a maximum of ten donor families per sperm donor” is acceptable.
Ms Fentiman has also directed the Office of the Health Ombudsman to launch an urgent investigation into fertility clinics in the state.
Ms Ashton and two other mothers who have filed complaints with the Queensland Health Ombudsman met with Ms Fentiman this week.
Ms Fentiman said she was ‘shocked’ by some of the allegations against IVF providers and has instructed the ombudsman to urgently investigate the state’s fertility industry.
Queensland Fertility Group director Melanie Sibson told the newspaper she was aware of Ms Ashton’s ombudsman complaint and that “current QFG guidelines for donor conception only allow for a limit of ten families.”
Ny Breaking Australia has contacted Queensland Fertility Group and Ms Ashton for comment.