Norwalk — Brooke Jones' history of fertility is one of give and take.

On June 1, 2017, she donated her eggs for the first time, helping another family bear children. Exactly one year later, her own son was born. From 2022 and 2023, she did another two rounds of egg donation.

This past December, she had a stillbirth.

"I've been through the wringer," said Jones, 33, a resident of Stamford and paraeducator at the city's Newfield Elementary School.

It's taken months to open up about it. But now, she's ready.

"I mean, everything happens for a reason," Jones said, noting that she doesn't think she'd try to get pregnant again. "I think because I'm too old now."

Despite her recent loss, Jones said she feels rewarded and validated by the opportunities she's offered to other families by donating her eggs.

Jones, who is Black, said that her three rounds of egg donation at Illume Fertility in Norwalk play a part in breaking down stigmas surrounding infertility by increasing donor pool diversity and offering Black families the opportunity to have children of a similar skin tone.

At Illume Fertility, less than 10 percent of egg donors are Black, the clinic's founder Dr. Mark Leondires said — which represents a nationwide deficit in Black egg donors.

That data point mirrors the 8.9 percent of donors who were Black in a national study the American Society for Reproductive Medicine published in 2019.

"During my second round, I had a chance to talk to (the recipient family) and see what they were actually looking for," Jones said. "They're the ones who actually brought up to me, 'hey, we're looking for this specific person because there's no diversity.' They wanted a child that looked like them."

She said she's incredibly honored to be able to offer that to a family or individual who is not able to have their own children through varied fertility complications.

Her donation also plays a role in breaking down systemic racism and stigmas around infertility in the Black community, Jones and Leondires said.

"There's a lot of data out there about maternal mortality rates," said Leondires, who has two children from egg donors. "Women of African (ancestries) are higher and inappropriately higher based on the racial bias in treatment. 'It is not unimaginable that young black women are more cautious to pursue and trust this whole process.'

In fact, about 70 Black mothers in 2021 died for every 100,000 live births in the U.S. — double the rate of white women, according to the Centers for Disease Control.

Black women's increased rates of maternal mortality "cannot be fully explained by socioeconomic factors and limited access to care," according to a 2020 article in the World Journal of Gynecology and Women's Health.

The journal specifically cites racist implicit bias — and the CDC agrees. For instance, implicit biases about supposed "biological differences" between Black and white people plague medical guidance and result in undertreatment for pain, a Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America journal states.

"The Black community historically was not treated well by the medical community," Leondires said.

These factors can contribute to an environment that doesn't feel welcoming to women of color, Leondires said.

"Since there's fewer women of color coming through to donate, then there's less peer donors to talk to, right?" Leondires said.

Jones explained the stigmas she sees within the Black community in three parts.

"A lot of people don't believe in giving your own away and then somebody else raising basically your child," Jones said. "Two, you don't know who you're giving your child away to. And some people don't believe in helping other families in the Black community because everybody wants to stick all together, all in one."

It's important to note that at Illume, donors can meet the families that they're paired with, Leondires said. Anonymity may have been possible in the past, genealogical tracking like Ancestry.com and 23andMe remove that option, he said.

Jones didn't feel pressured by any of the stigmas she described, she said. And while she plays her own role in breaking down barriers, Leondires said that Illume Fertility also works to eliminate stigma and make fertility care welcoming and accessible to people of color.

"We really try to serve every aspect of our community," he said. "We've done sensitivity training on LGBTQ-plus, African ancestry, Southeast Asian ancestry. It's part of our DNA."

Becoming an egg donor

Donors must go through an application and evaluation process, which unfortunately serves as a hurdle to donors of color who do not see themselves represented in the current pool, but is necessary as part of the process, Leondires said.

Donors must be screened, interviewed by a coordinator, see a genetic counselor, get an evaluation from a mental health professional, have their medical history examined, and meet with a doctor, Leondires said.

"Family history is so important," Leondires said. "Remember that when somebody uses a donor, egg donor, sperm donor, they're not getting that person. They're getting the previous generations of their family tree."

Donors get a bonus if they refer someone who is approved as a donor, Leondires said.

Some things that would disqualify a donor are a family history of cancer, mental health issues, or being too under- or overweight.

The process is complicated and selective enough that only 5 percent of applicants become donors, Leondires said. But he encouraged women to apply regardless because the process allows women free genetic counseling and knowledge of their fertility, even if they aren't accepted.

From application to egg retrieval, Leondires said the process can take about three months. Donors will earn around $10,000 for their donations, which Leondires said is market rate compensation.