Fertility Challenges: Learning Your Options
- Singer Kylie Minogue, 55, has said her breast cancer diagnosis at age 36 “changed everything,” including never getting to experience motherhood, which is a personal choice for every woman.
- While the Australia-born pop star has become more at ease with her path in life, it’s important for women to know their options when facing cancer or other fertility struggles … or if you just prefer to wait. You can consider fertility preservation, surrogacy, or adoption.
- Every woman’s journey is different, and not having a child in your lifetime does not define you, but if that is something you have your heart set on, it is worth speaking to your doctor to find out what your options are — even if you’re not ready to make a decision.
In a former interview with Sunday Times Style, the Australia-born star reflected on that period and how her health impacted her life trajectory going forward.
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When she reached 50, the Grammy winner said she was “more at ease” and accepting of her path.
“I can’t say there are no regrets, but it would be very hard for me to move on if I classed that as a regret, so I just have to be as philosophical about it as I can. You’ve got to accept where you are and get on with it.”
While that may be the case for many women, and we applaud Minogue’s self-acceptance, it’s also important to note that there are options for women going through cancer who do want to become a mother.
Cancer & Motherhood
While we don’t know Minogue’s full health details, many women at 36 are still able to go through fertility preservation.
For women going through cancer, this process has to be done before chemotherapy treatment. And if that is not an option, many survivors go on to experience motherhood by using a surrogate with their partner, or consider adoption.
Learning more about fertility preservation
Every woman’s journey is different, and not having a child in your lifetime does not define you, but if that is something you have your heart set on, it is worth speaking to your doctor to find out what your options are, even if you’re not ready to make a decision.
Cancer Treatment’s Impact on Fertility
Many cancer treatments can do wonders in fighting off cancer, but their side effects can be difficult to manage as some can be long-lasting.
If you are having a treatment that includes infertility as a possible side effect, your doctor won’t be able to tell you for sure whether you will have this side effect. As mentioned, that is why you should discuss your options for fertility preservation before starting treatment.
RELATED: Freezing Eggs Or Embryos: What Should I Do?
“When a woman is diagnosed with cancer in her childbearing years, fertility preservation should be a part of the conversation, like it’s part of the treatment plan,” Jaime Knopman, MD, a reproductive endocrinologist at CCRM Fertility in New York City, previously told SurvivorNet.
“Everyone in their reproductive years should be advised of their options,” Dr. Knopman added.
Research shows that women who have fertility preserved before breast cancer treatment are more than twice as likely to give birth after treatment than those who don’t take fertility-preserving measures.
If you freeze eggs only before treatment, a fertility specialist can use sperm and your eggs to create embryos in vitro and transfer them to your uterus.
When freezing eggs or embryos is not an option, doctors may try these approaches:
- Ovarian tissue freezing is an experimental approach for girls who haven’t yet reached puberty and don’t have mature eggs or for women who must begin treatment right away and don’t have time to harvest eggs.
- Ovarian suppression prevents the eggs from maturing so that they cannot be damaged during treatment.
- Ovarian transposition, for women getting radiation to the pelvis, moves the ovaries out of the line of treatment.
Surrogacy and Gestational Carriers
After undergoing cancer treatment, some women may have difficulty giving birth or they may be unable to get pregnant at all. Endometriosis, a uterine condition affecting fertility, is also a relatively common health challenge that women face. In these cases, having someone else carry their baby may be an option, either through surrogacy or a gestational carrier.
According to the National Cancer Institute, a surrogate pregnancy is “a type of pregnancy in which a woman carries and gives birth to a baby for a person who is not able to have children.”
“In a surrogate pregnancy, eggs from the woman who will carry the baby or from an egg donor are fertilized with sperm from a sperm donor to make an embryo,” the institute explains.
“The embryo is implanted in the uterus of the surrogate mother, who carries the baby until birth. Surrogate pregnancy may be an option for men or women who want to have children and have had certain anticancer treatments, such as chemotherapy or radiation therapy, that can cause infertility.”
A survivor’s joy from surrogacy
As for a gestational carrier, the institute describes this person as a “woman who carries and gives birth to a baby for a person who is not able to have children.”
“Eggs from an egg donor are fertilized in the laboratory with sperm from a sperm donor to make an embryo,” the institute explains. “The embryo is implanted in the uterus of the gestational surrogate, who carries the baby until birth. The gestational surrogate (or carrier) is not genetically related to the baby and is not the biological mother.”
If you or someone you know is deciding on whether or not to go the route of surrogacy or gestational carrier, it’s important to know that each state has different laws and it may be necessary to speak with an attorney before moving forward.
Questions to Ask Your Doctor
If you’re facing cancer treatment and wondering about your fertility preservation options, here are some questions you may consider asking your doctor:
- How do you expect my treatment to affect my fertility?
- Are there specialists I can talk to about my fertility preservation options?
- Is it safe for me to preserve my fertility before treatment?
- What resources are available to help me pay for fertility preservation?
- What mental health resources are available to help me cope with this?
Contributing: SurvivorNet Staff
Learn more about SurvivorNet's rigorous medical review process.
