I met my sperm donor BACKPACKING

Rachel Rigby had given up hope of having a baby when she went travelling around South America

- Josie Griffiths

I’ve always wanted to have kids, I feel like it gives you a purpose in life. When I got married in 2010, I was 39 and we’d discussed having kids in detail. We got married two years after meeting and I wasn’t getting any younger, so I wanted to start trying straight away.

But my husband always had an excuse for why we couldn’t. I was miserable, crying all the time, then one day he told me he definitely didn’t want kids. I’d put all my investment into this guy and having kids with him. After two years of marriage, I’d had enough.

‘I FELT LIKE I HAD NO ONE’

I had to leave him, I had no choice, I couldn’t see myself growing older without a child. So in September 2012, when I was 41, I got a backpack and left. I still had my flat in east London, but I was renting it out, so I couldn’t go back there. You can’t get divorced when you still live together and I needed to get away, so I quit my job.

I’d always wanted to see South America – it’s a whole part of the world I’d never been to – so I travelled to Mexico, Cuba, Uruguay, Costa Rica, Brazil, Argentina, Colombia and Panama.

Crazy idea

I went for nine months, which is ironic, because it takes nine months to have a baby, but I definitely thought my chances of having a child were over.