ROB HUNTER
My name is Rob and last year, at the age of 22, I had a very interesting visit with my Grandmother. Grandma has been through a lot of health problems over the last few years and as a result her memory isn’t quite what it used to be. We began talking about our family, and out of the blue, she said “you know your dad’s not your dad, right?”
Nope – I sure didn’t know! Turns out I was the product of an anonymous sperm donation made back in London Ontario in 1984. Interestingly enough – the donation was done through the University of Western Ontario, and the donor was likely a Western student. When it came time to apply for university – this is before I knew of my genetic origins – the only place I applied was Western.
I had a long chat with my mother after learning the news from Grandma. A lot of tears have been shed and a lot of pain has been worked through. I have learned that secrets in families can be very dangerous. Keeping someone’s genetic origins from them – whether it be a clinic or a parent doing the secret-keeping – can lead to tremendous pain and frustration for a lot of people.
I think this lawsuit is important because it changes the focus from “Let’s fix things for the future” to “Let’s fix things for everybody.” I spoke at a conference last year about DI, and used the analogy of asbestos removal – at some point, we found out using asbestos was a bad idea. Not only did we stop using asbestos, but we went back and fixed asbestos problems from the past. For all of the children affected by DI, it’s not enough to just make things better for the next generation. This lawsuit is an integral step in righting past wrongs.
