anonymous sperm donor who produced 36 kids accidentally revealed to the moms - was not as profiled

[Demovictory9]

https://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2020/09/sperm-donor-identity-mental-health/616081/

One Sperm Donor. 36 Children. A Mess of Lawsuits.
Parents thought Donor 9623 was a genius who spoke four languages, not a college dropout with a criminal record.

To the mothers, he was just Donor 9623. They did not know his name, but from his glowing sperm-donor profile, they knew he had an IQ of 160, spoke four languages, was pursuing a doctorate in neuroscience engineering, and looked like Tom Cruise.

But Donor 9623 wasn’t who he said he was. He wasn’t in graduate school. He had never even finished college. The lies began to unravel in 2014, when the sperm bank accidentally revealed his name—Chris Aggeles—and his email address in a message to a group of mothers. By then, the sperm he’d produced over 14 years had been sent to multiple states and three countries, resulting in at least 36 children. Curious, the mothers Googled him and found a comment he’d left online about “hearing voices.” They later found out that he had been hospitalized for mental illness, had been on disability, was suicidal at one point, and pleaded guilty for burglary—all before or during the time he was donating sperm.

The sperm bank, Xytex, didn’t know any of this, and it hadn’t verified any of the biographical information that was in his profile, according to lawsuits since filed by the mothers. They were shocked to realize how unregulated sperm banks are. And now they worried that their children might have inherited a predisposition to mental illness. Since 2016, they have filed more than a dozen lawsuits against the sperm bank; one case is currently pending before the Georgia Supreme Court. (Xytex did not respond to a request for comment.)

I discussed the case of Donor 9623 with Dov Fox, a professor of health law at the University of San Diego. Fox covered the lawsuits in his book, Birth Rights and Wrongs, and he has spent the past year diving even deeper into the case of Donor 9623—interviewing parents who were deceived, children coming to terms with their genetic inheritance, and eventually the donor himself for a new Audible podcast.



https://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2020/09/sperm-donor-identity-mental-health/616081/


https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-8723761/Prolific-sperm-donor-Chris-Aggeles-lied-schizophrenia-speaks-Donor-9623-podcast.html

'I hope that the families involved, and particularly the children involved, can find it in their hearts to forgive me,' Aggeles told podcast host Dov Fox in an interview.

'I'm sorry for betraying their trust, it was a s***ty thing and I'm not happy about it,' he added. 'I feel terrible about it, I really do.'

Aggeles first began donating sperm in 2000, when he was 23 and a college dropout, working as a waiter in Georgia and aspiring to succeed as a drummer.

'One of my roommates had seen an advertisement in one of the student newspapers and thought I would be a good candidate. It's a way to earn income,' he recalled in the podcast.

'It was a way for me to provide some stability in my life,' he said. 'It was an honor in a lot of ways, I felt like I was special somehow.'

Aggeles went on to become a prolific donor, sometimes contributing twice a week, due to high demand based on the profile he had filled out for the sperm bank.

What he did not reveal was that in 1999, he had been committed to a mental institution with a diagnosis of schizophrenia.

[a kennedy]

1. OMGAWD!!!!!

[TheBlackAdder]

2. He looked like Tom Cruise, with or without the platform heel lifts?

[Demovictory9]

4. mugshot

[TheBlackAdder]

14. More like Emilio Estevez in Repo Man

.



.

[Baitball Blogger]

19. AWB.

Still, genetics is very strange. I'm sure that among his DNA, there will children that will do well based on environment.

[cwydro]

9. Height-shaming?

Really?

[TheBlackAdder]

15. The only ones ashamed of their height are the ones wearing the lifts. Trump, are you listening?

[cwydro]

18. Ahh, thanks for clearing that up for me.

[Dream Girl]

3. I'm going to get started on a screen play. Will make a great thriller/horror movie

[Demovictory9]

8. movies usually have happy ending.

[TheBlackAdder]

20. Spread out all over the country, they all go to Cozumel and unknowingly hook up with each other.

.

Oh, sorry. I think that was a French or British 'After Dark' movie premise.

.

[Dream Girl]

27. I was more foxes on the horror potential,,,that father sounds like a real prize

[MontanaMama]

5. That's a big fat law suit in the making.

The bigger issue would be if any of these kiddos end up with serious hereditary mental illness...or have already? Schizophrenia isn’t hereditary, I don’t think...but what else is this guy dealing with? Goodness.

[Demovictory9]

7. sucks for all involved particularly the kids... that lawsuits happen over their existence

[MontanaMama]

12. Oh yes.

I think I would have a child psychologist advise me on how to handle this. These poor kids.

[LisaL]

17. Actually having a father or mother with schizophrenia increases

the offspring's risk of having schizophrenia. There is definitely a genetic predisposition with schizophrenia.

[MontanaMama]

21. You're correct...

I just read that having a parent with schizophrenia gives the child a 10% chance of becoming schizophrenic. I didn’t know that.

[Hekate]

28. The theory of the heritability of different forms of mental illness changes every generation...

When I was growing up as a Boomer, my mom, who was very interested in psychology was very much of the prevalent opinion that it is not inherited. And having been influenced by Freud, she was sure whatever went wrong was the mother's fault.

That has changed. It turns out that a lot of things are hooked up in your DNA one way or another. Schizophrenia typically shows up in adolescence, and I am not sure anyone knows why. Two of my friends each had a kid that had a psychotic break just past 18, after years of intractable troubles and family counseling, psychotherapy, interventions. But it sure was not the mother’s or father’s fault, at least we know that now. And if you have a diagnosis of schizophrenia or bipolar, it might be useful to do a medical family tree.

Even a diagnosis of depression, if it’s interfering with your life, it might be worthwhile to sketch out your family tree. It certainly helped someone I know when the lightbulb went on about her mom and her mom’s numerous siblings, all well-educated, each successful in their own way, each of whom got slammed with something in midlife — depression, social anxiety, alcoholism. As I went over it with her, I added, “And I think the alcoholics are self-medicating.”

Someone with a lot more knowledge than I will surely weigh in to correct me if I err.

[NBachers]

6. Where have I heard this story before?

[Blue_true]

24. One of the most unsung comic geniuses of all time. nt

[FM123]

10. Scary future for those parents and kids

"children coming to terms with their genetic inheritance"

[BootinUp]

11. Not surprised. Nt

[captain queeg]

13. How much do they pay the dip shit per "donation"?

Maybe he was really charming face to face, which I kind of doubt, but didn’t they do any sort of verification? He’s probably over 6 ft, seems like that is always in high demand, but stuff about his IQ and studies shouldn’t have been to hard to figure out.

[madaboutharry]

16. Adoption agencies back in the mid 20th century

were also poorly regulated and corrupt. Birth mothers were told their babies were being adopted by doctors, lawyers, and college professors. Adopted parents were also lied to. The birth mothers were always who the adopted parents wanted them to be. If they wanted a Jewish baby, then the baby was Jewish. If they wanted an Italian baby, the baby was Italian. The birth mothers were never poor, they were middle class girls who got in trouble but came from good homes, even if that wasn’t true. The truth was a lot of what happened was outright kidnapping.

There is an excellent book about this topic titled “The Girls Who Went Away.”

[BGBD]

23. Rick Flair

was kidnapped by an adoption agency and given away to other parents.

[madaboutharry]

25. Who is Rick Flair?

[captain queeg]

26. I think a pro wrestler

[Blue_true]

22. The only victims are the children, for having biological parents like the two they have.

I honestly can’t understand people that go out to produce “genius” babies.

[sarcasmo]

29. Sounds like that donor received an Einstein Visa.