My instant family
Half-siblings unite after learning they share the same sperm donor dad
TEACHER Liam Renouf was able to invite a host of new siblings to his wedding, just weeks after meeting them for the first time.
Liam was born to single mum Julie with the help of a sperm donor in 1995.
But he recently discovered he has four half-brothers and sisters who have the same donor to thank for bringing them into the world.
The 28-year-old met them all the same week he went on his stag weekend in May – and then, a few months later, some of them joined him as he walked down the aisle to marry wife Sol.
Liam, who found his siblings after submitting his DNA on several websites, said: “It was the most intense experience and also really lucky with the timing. It did feel like a movie.
“I found out I had siblings on the Wednesday, I had my stag do on the Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday, and then I met [the siblings] on the Monday.
“At times, I had to apologise to my friends because I was on my phone and I wasn’t 100% present on the stag. They were, like, ‘No, it’s absolutely fine’.
“The whole thing happened so fast. There was adrenaline going.
“There are five of us and I’m the only one who is an only child.” Jersey-born Liam added: “I hoped we’d exchange Christmas cards… I didn’t go in, thinking, ‘I’m going to build these relationships’, but when I met them, I felt this instant care for them.
“There was something about it that felt biological in a sense – I felt quite protective of them.
“It helps they are amazing, but I didn’t expect to feel this deep care
for them so quickly.” Liam traced his siblings with the help of Born From the Same Stranger – a new TV show about people conceived using sperm or egg donors who are now searching for their relatives.
In next week’s opening episode, viewers will see Liam meet three of his four new siblings in a pub.
They are Charlie, 28, and his sister Beth, 25, along with Mae, 27. Mae’s brother Jack, 28, met Liam off-camera.
On inviting them to his wedding, Liam added: “We had done all the wedding invites and everything because I met them at the end of May and I got married in July.
“But I said to them, ‘What I am about to ask is quite intense, but I don’t want us to build relationship and look back and you’d not have been there when you could have’.
“One couldn’t make it but two came for the whole thing… and one came in the evening, which was lovely.”
Liam was conceived in the 1990s, when sperm donation was in its heyday.
Nearly 500 men regularly dropped off samples with the promise of complete anonymity and were paid around £15 each time.
A law change in 2005 means children conceived since then can now have their donor’s details when they turn 18.
But for Liam and others who appear on the ITV series, only non-identifying information is available.
Liam said: “I grew up without a father but it hasn’t been this kind of continuous struggle that I’ve had to overcome.
“I had a really good relationship my grandfather and my mum provided me with everything I kind of needed.
“This was about finding out more information. We’re never going to be traditional siblings, but we have a shared experience and I feel lucky.”
■ Born from the Same Stranger starts on ITV and ITVX on Monday at 9pm.