Man, 87, meets sons after donating sperm decades ago

Sam Simmonds said it was "wonderful" to be in contact with his sons

An 87-year-old man watches a taxi pull up by his home – and inside are two of his biological sons who he is about to meet for the very first time.

The teenagers, Asher and Reuben, embrace Sam Simmonds with a big hug, as the emotional moment is captured by the BBC.

"Wonderful," says Sam, as he holds them close.

Asher, who is 18, says: "It's had all this build up… it still doesn't feel real.

"It's wonderful how we've got this familial relationship with this man who for the first 18 years of my life I was legally not allowed to know."

Sam, now residing near Southampton, was living in Australia in the late 1990s when there were public appeals for sperm donors.

IVF clinics had voluntarily started to end anonymous donations, meaning any children would eventually be given the name of their biological parent.

It is a step that would not become mandatory in that part of Australia until 2010, but the change in policies led to a drastic drop in volunteers.

Sam, who had two daughters from previous relationships, says media appeals for help were what persuaded him to donate.

"Never did it cross my mind that I would hear any more about it… it's turned out to be quite the opposite to that," he says.

Meanwhile, Rebecca and Fiona, a couple living in Sydney, had been keen to start a family. They chose from a list of sperm donors with limited information such as age, height, interests and cultural background but no name.

Years later, once Rebecca had given birth to Asher and Fiona was pregnant with Reuben, the couple were desperate to contact the man who had given them the opportunity to have children.

Rebecca wrote an anonymous letter to this unknown person via the IVF clinic.

"All we wanted to say was just 'thank you'," she says.

Sam says receiving that letter was "astonishing" and made him feel "very emotional about it all".

He sent an anonymous reply, again via the clinic, signed "your unknown friend".

Asher says that as he grew up, he was "absent-mindedly counting down the days until I was able to find out who my father is and be able to meet him".

"Everybody wants to know where they come from," says Fiona, "and we can only give them one half of the story."

The turning point came when Asher reached 18. He was allowed to ask for the name of his sperm donor, which started an internet search to track him down.

A breakthrough was made when they found Sam's self-published autobiography. It placed him in Sydney at the right period of time, and he wrote about how he had been part of a sperm donation programme.

"We were really crossing our fingers that Sam would want to have a relationship with our children," says Fiona.

The teenage boys visited their biological father for the first time alongside their parents

Contact was made and this time letters turned into video calls. Before long, plans were made to make the 10,000 mile (16,000 km) journey to meet for the first time.

Sam invited the BBC to witness the moment.

"I'm so very, very pleased to meet you guys after all this time," he tells the family, champagne glass in hand.

Reuben says: "It's just amazing – not only that he's my father, but also that he's a really amicable person."

Asher adds: "He's not my dad but he is my father, and it's great to be in contact with that half of my life, which up until this point was completely a mystery. It's wonderful how much we get on."

In the UK, it is has not been possible to donate sperm anonymously since 2005.

That means that since late 2023 it has been possible for donor-conceived people to find information about their donors when they turn 18.