Fertility

When you are first diagnosed with cancer, there is a lot to think about and many decisions to make. You'll probably be thinking a lot about your disease and may be anxious to start treatment as soon as possible. However, before you start it is important to consider the possible effects on your fertility. Some cancer treatments can make it difficult for you to have children in the future. You may not have even thought about having children yet, and while there is a lot going on for you, it is important to think ahead a little bit and keep your options open for the future.

Some chemotherapy and radiotherapy treatments can affect your fertility temporarily or permanently. Your ova (eggs) or your sperm can be affected by your treatments. The number of eggs or sperm produced may decrease, or they may be damaged by the treatment. It is possible to freeze healthy sperm for use later on, but this has to happen before you begin your treatment. It may be possible in the future for frozen ova to be used successfully and ova can be collected and stored for possible future use.

Once the ova or sperm are collected they are stored after being frozen. For guys, collection is usually by masturbation and, while it may be embarrassing, it is fairly straightforward. The collection of ova is more complicated and requires women to undergo a minor surgical procedure in order to remove eggs to be stored.

If needed, you will be given relevant contact details to arrange donations prior to your treatment commencing. There is generally an annual fee involved to store your ova or sperm, so it is worth asking about this when you arrange your donation.

Unfortunately, collection of sperm or ova is not possible for everyone. In some cases, cancer itself can cause changes to ova or sperm. Your doctor or nurse will talk about your individual situation with you. It is important to ask lots of questions and consider all your options before making a final decision. Your doctor, nurse or social worker can help you to work out what is right for you.