USC Student Finds Woman Who Donated Egg That Gave Her Life, And Similarities Are Striking
LOS ANGELES (CBSLA) -- Two women are finding harmony after discovering they had a lot in common.
A USC student was determined to find the woman who donated her egg and gave her life.
KCAL9's Stacey Butler explains how a need to pay for college 18 years ago, led to the amazing story.
"I answered an ad in the Daily Trojan, looking for egg donors. And I got matched up with a couple," recalls Amy Throckmorton.
It was 1999. Throckmorton had no idea if her egg was ever used.
She started a career, then a family and moved to San Diego. She often wondered about her egg.
"As I got older and closer to 40 I knew that if it had been successful, that person would possibly be an adult," says Throckmorton.
Fast forward to 2018. Elizabeth Gaba, who goes by Gaba, joined USC's award-winning A capella group, the SoCal VoCals. At 18, she was also eligible to access the file of her egg donor.
The woman turned out to be an Alpha Phi at USC but all she had was a grainy photo. Gaba's friend contacted every Alpha Phi in that graduating class and found her.
"I received a text message, that was like, are you sitting down? I found your egg donor and she was in the VoCals. And I immediately started crying," says Gaba.
For years Amy had wondered if she would wake up to a knock on the door or a Facebook post. Then just last week, it happened.
"I got one last week a Facebook message with a picture of myself back in the 90s, sweet young thing and asking if I knew this woman? I thought it was very sketchy so I did not answer it at the time," said Throckmorton
But then Gaba called her.
"I thought, could be, I mean timings right," said Throckmorton.
But nothing could prepare her for what she was about to discover.
"Not only does this person exist, but they go to my university and the'rre in the A ccapella group that I was one of the first members of twenty years ago. It's crazy," said Throckmorton.
Now the two can't stop singing.
It's a new relationship they haven't come up with a label for.
"I'm not trying to replace her family," says Throckmorton, "we're friends."
"Yes," says Gaba, "we're friends."
"Friends who just happen to share DNA," says Throckmorton and Gaba chimes in with "DNA" about the same time.
And they are going to keep on singing together.
