Katherine Dawson is searching for siblings she’s never met.

The 35-year-old is one of an estimated 60,000 Australians who are donor-conceived and whose biological fathers’ identities were kept a mystery.

“I was told you’re not allowed too know who he is, you’re not allowed to know who any of your siblings are and I was really blocked from knowing that details,” Ms Dawson said.

“You see your face in the mirror, and it doesn’t make sense – and as soon as you see this other side of your family, you can place things.”

Ms Dawson began researching the missing pieces of her genetic heritage by visiting clinics to find records and taking ancestry DNA tests.

So far, she’s confirmed she has 53 half-siblings living across South Australia, Victoria and Queensland, as well as overseas.

[Image of Katherine Dawson with caption: Katherine Dawson is searching for half-siblings to warn them of a family cancer risk. (ABC News: Guido Salazar)]

But she believes she may have up to 700 siblings, including some who may not know they are donor-conceived.

She’s desperately trying to find them to pass on perhaps life-saving medical advice about an elevated cancer risk that runs in the family.

“I can’t just sit back and go live my life and forget about it,” she said.

“We’re strangers but we’re siblings, and I care about them – but I’m not allowed to know them.”

State register allows ‘personal journeys’

SA health investigates donor records after woman discovers 53 half-siblings

Katherine Dawson is urging SA Health to expedite its investigation into ancient donor records after discovering she has 53 half-siblings through a prolific donor.

Ms Dawson began researching her biological father’s identity in 2015 and discovered he donated sperm across multiple clinics in Victoria throughout the 1980s, frequently enough under assumed names.

She is now working to connect with as many of her half-siblings as possible, and to warn them of a potential family history of cancer.

“It’s a really complex situation because records weren’t necessarily kept quite separately,” Ms Lindsay said.

“Records deteriorate over time and doctors’ writing, even in the first instance, is frequently enough hard to read.”

She said SA Health was trying to verify records with the births, Deaths and Marriages registry – a process that coudl take months to complete.

“It’s really important that this information is of high integrity, and it is verified, so that can be frustrating when people are looking for a complete set of information quickly,” Ms Lindsay said.

An urgent health warning

Ms dawson met her biological father in 2023.She discovered that he was a prolific donor who visited multiple clinics in Victoria over at least six years during the 1980s and under different names.

[Image of a woman holding a yellow folder titled ‘IVF documents’ and standing in front of a fireplace decorated with photo frames. caption: Through her research, Katherine Dawson has confirmed 53 half-siblings. (ABC News: Guido Salazar)]

She hopes the register will be able to link her to more siblings in SA and warn them of a family-cancer risk.

“Ther might be siblings I’ve got already that have developed bowel cancer, given some of them could be in their 40s now and they should be checking from their mid-20s,” she said.

Ms Dawson said she’d like to see a national register established. it would help other donor-conceived people easily access their genetic information without having to undertake lengthy and complex searches.

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National Medical Donor Register Proposed to Improve Information Sharing

Federal Health Minister Mark Butler has announced a review into the feasibility of establishing a national medical donor register, aiming to streamline access to crucial health information for doctors across state lines.

The current system relies on a patchwork of state-based registers, creating challenges for healthcare professionals when patients seek treatment in different jurisdictions. This can lead to delays in accessing vital medical history, potentially impacting patient care.

Liberal Senator Anne Urquhart said a national register would eliminate some of the difficulties she had experienced in seeking information from interstate.

“It’s not to say a national register is necessarily going to be quicker – it’s just that if they had access to all of the information it wouldn’t be double handling as much,” she said.

Australian Medical Association SA president Peter Subramaniam said the development of a national framework was a “logical next step”.

“We are one country and people in Australia move around,” Dr Subramaniam said.