Hi R.,
I decided to respond since I was an egg donor many years ago, in my early 20's. Honestly, I was definitely motivated more by the financial aspect at first, but as I became more involved in the process, and realized the greatness of the gift I was giving to someone, it was no longer all about the money. I was very happy to be helping an infertile couple in that way. My parents & I did a lot of research into donating, and we did not find anything pertaining to a cancer risk that another poster mentioned! That may be just hearsay, but I'd definitely ask about all the risks involved before making your decision. There is also psychological counseling that I had to go through during the donation process, and just talking it out with the couselor helped me firm my decision to go ahead with it. It's been a long time, but my donation was anonymous (neither I nor the recipients of my eggs have any knowledge of each other). I have at times wondered if a child was ever conceived (I was told there was usually a 50% chance), and what he/she looked like. But not knowing for sure helps with that wondering. I have definitely NOT spent much time pining over those questions, and definitely do not feel like IF a child was conceived that the child is "mine" any more than genetically. As a mother of 2 little girls of my own, I realize that loviong & nurturing my girls is what makes me their Mom. Also, it is eggs (plural) that you'd be donating. The drugs they give you are to make your body produce a large amount of eggs in one cycle, so they can harvest them at once (the amount varies per woman, but mine was 12 eggs) and give the recipients the best chance at conceiving. Some of the eggs they harvest from you will be implanted, and some will probably be frozen, depending on how many they harvest and how many the couple decides to have implanted on one attempt.
I had a very positive experience with egg donation, and always felt I did a wonderful thing for someone. I sincerely hope that the couple that received my eggs did have a baby.
Hope this helps in making your decision! My best advice would be to look into it, go slowly, learn as much as you can...and your gut feelings will emerge. There is nothing to be ashamed of in being financially motivated - you'd still be giving the greatest gift, and compensation is for your time and inconveniece (there's daily shots you give yourself). By the way, I never missed a day of work except maybe the day they removed the eggs. If you have any further questions, feel free to ask me!