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From Heather’s Desk
 Hello, My Name is Heather Brooks and my company Outreach Health Services is the Canadian Distributor for Xytex Corporation and has been for the past 10 years! I’m also a Registered Nurse and Mom of a son conceived through Assisted Reproductive Technology.
I’ve been asked to contribute to the Xytex Xtra Newsletter and I am privileged to share the same space as the late Dr. Armand Karow, founder and Chairman Emeritus of Xytex Corporation. Dr. Karow was my colleague, my mentor and I also considered him my friend. I always thoroughly enjoyed the discussions we would have, not always agreeing but certainly thought provoking!
For those of you new to the Xytex Xtra newsletter, this column was Dr. Karow’s forum for discussion of current issues surrounding Assisted Reproductive Technologies and particularly Third Party Reproduction. He also wrote of emerging technologies in the field, but not always were the content of his columns about the physical, he would write about issues that concerned the emotional and psychosocial as well, and in particular the joys of having children through Third party reproduction; unfortunately though not everyone expressed the same joys about having children through Third party reproduction.
Dr. Karow was never shy about responding to those comments or reviews, but always with the thought of educating and always from a firm conviction that Xytex Corp. was bringing joy to people who were trying to create their families through Xytex’s donor semen program and that it was a privilege to be a part of that process. I also consider it a privilege working with my clients in this very personal part of their lives and carry that philosophy in my day to day activities at Outreach Health Services.
As the scholar, but more importantly, the very nice man that I knew him to be, he too felt very strongly about the technologies that we have available to us that actually creates life and children. Dr. Karow was never without social conscience and he felt that it was important to educate and he would do so in his column.
And so, in that same spirit, my vision for my column would be one where we can continue to share Dr. Karow’s same values of openness and candor, to discuss and educate others as well as ourselves and to better understand the complex psychosocial issues that affect the patients and their children conceived through Third Party Reproduction. I myself am a proponent for openness and encourage you to contact me with your thoughts and your questions, and let’s start making this world of ours a better place for the children!
You can reach me at h.brooks@on.aibn.com
I look forward to hearing from you.
Comments
Jun 18, 2010 :: Heather Brooks
Message to Margaret:
Margaret, I would stronly suggest you visit the Donor Conception Network website. They are a British organization and have great free internet downloads on "how/when to tell your child about how they were conceived" The information is age sensitive and free of charge. Many of my clients have used the information to inform their children and the feedback has been very positive.
I wish you all the best
Heather Brooks R.N.
Canadian Services Coordinator
Outreach Health Services
Distributor for Xytex Corp.
www.creatingcanadianfamilies.ca
May 24, 2010 :: Brian
In my case I decided to wait until my son was fifteen so that he could better understand. I sort of felt the same way and it was a great relief when I finally told him but I promised myself that I would wait and made a specific date to tell him. I'm not saying that anyone should wait that long that was just my choice because I thought that he would better understand then. Maybe tell him when he tells him about the birds and the bees? That could work.
May 21, 2010 :: Margaret
A friend of mine and her husband have a son through third party reproduction. The husband is enjoying the emotional bounding he shares with the child but finds it extremely difficult to find a way of telling the child of his true origin and at the same time feels it is 'living a lie' if he does not tell. This is affecting my friend now. How should the husband approach this matter? The child is alreay 10 years old.
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