'I could have 300 siblings'

As a child, Jo Rose discovered her father was a sperm donor. At 36, she still hasn't found him. She describes the battle to have her rights recognised, and find her identity

Throughout my childhood, my family would use phrases such as "donor conception" quite openly, but they never acted as if this meant I had a genetic father, or a different paternal family out there, even as I got older.

By my mid-teens, I felt uncomfortable and confused about who I was, but I didn't have the words to verbalise it all. I started suffering from bulimia and bouts of depression - it was like a cauldron of black stuff that would bubble up every so often - but I couldn't have told you what it was about.