Holly Smith, a former Egg Donor Educator & Care Coordinator at Egg Donor & Surrogate Solutions (ED & SS), has helped create six happy families through egg donation. She initially became interested in egg donation during her senior year in college.
“I was thinking about what my life after college was going to be like, and I had this very altruistic plan to change someone’s life for the better,” Holly says. “I wanted to help other people by giving them something they were in need of, and I was more than capable of doing so.”
She began researching egg donation and agencies during her final semester of college. After graduation, Holly was accepted into the egg donor program at ED & SS and matched with her first set of intended parents within a month.
Holly recently shared her experience as an egg donor on the This is Infertility podcast, produced by Progyny, a leading fertility benefits management company. She currently works for Progyny as a patient care advocate, offering support to members and helping them understand their fertility benefits and treatment options.
In the podcast episode, Holly discusses the physical and emotional aspects of her journey, provides a detailed overview of the requirements and process involved with egg donation, and offers advice for women who want to become egg donors.
“You have to have a heart for this,” Holly explains. “As long as it’s something they really want to do to help someone, and not just because they are being financially compensated, I think they should go for it. I’m all for people donating their eggs because we need more egg donors.”
Through her work in the fertility field, Holly has witnessed both the loss and the joy intended parents experience on their journey to parenthood. As a mom, it’s something she has come to understand on a deeper level during the past year. In April 2020, Holly’s son tragically passed away at four months old from a genetic condition she did not know he had (she and her husband have both undergone genetic testing and neither were carriers). Following the loss of her son, Holly says she feels blessed with the recent arrival his little sister.
“I’ve had a lot of experience with families struggling to get pregnant and going through IVF, so it’s definitely made me thankful because I know it’s not an easy process for everyone,” Holly says. “We were able to bring more children into this world, and ultimately, I think that’s the best thing. It’s why I wanted to be an egg donor – to help people have their babies and the families they want so badly.”
Holly adds, “I’ve learned so much about the world of fertility and infertility. It’s opened my mind in so many ways to how other people want to be parents. It’s not always the traditional way, and I think it’s beautiful that so many people want to do whatever they can to become parents.”
For more information about Progyny and the This is Infertility podcast, visit www.progyny.com and follow Progyny on YouTube and Instagram.