At 26, Gini Bhogal was hopping on the Tube to see her friends after work. While she took the same route she always did, this time she struck up a conversation that changed her life. Now 56 and a make-up artist to celebrities, she reflects on the moment she was finally able to help someone else like she’d always wanted.
It was the early 90s and I was going to meet my best friends in town. As I got on the Tube, I made my way towards the seats where a little child was sitting. He was being adorable and funny, making everybody around him laugh and there was a woman next to me also laughing and asking him questions.
We struck up a conversation. Nobody talks to strangers on the Tube nowadays but back then you just did – it wasn’t abnormal. She told me her name was Anita and asked me if I had children – I had one at the time. I asked her the same and she told me: “No I can’t, because I have fertility problems. My eggs are too mature and I can’t conceive naturally.” She was 43, and was exploring IVF but the only way she could have a child would be if a younger woman donated her eggs.
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I’d always wanted to help other people. I used to see a lot of adverts back then for children who had leukemia and needed a bone marrow transplant, and thought to myself that if I was a match I would definitely do it. So when Anita told me about egg donation it was a lightbulb moment. I didn’t even know that egg donation was a thing at the time but I looked at her and said: “Oh my god, I’d love to help someone like that.” She was surprised and asked me: “Would you? Because you’d be perfect – we’re both Indian and I need someone of Asian mix.” So that was it.
