Having Kids After Cancer
- Flip or Flop star, cancer survivor Tarek El Moussa, 40, and his new wife, fellow reality star Heather Rae Young, 38, are covering their fertility bases.
- Although the timing isn’t quite right for the busy bees to have their first child together, Young, who froze her eggs a couple months ago, said in a recent interview that the couple will take the plunge soon.
- Life is notorious for throwing hurdles, like cancer or other disease; The years can fly by fast amid busy careers, therefore it’s important to consider a fertility plan like egg-freezing just to be on the safe side.
"I have a crazy, busy next few months coming up, and I don't want to go into it being pregnant," Young told E! News' Daily Pop last week. "We're gonna do it sometime this year, maybe in [the] fall. So, that's kind of my plan. I keep pushing it off."
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El Moussa, a two-time cancer survivor, has been through quite a lot himself after going through testicular cancer and thyroid cancer amid a divorce to ex-wife and former Flip or Flop co-host Christina Haack, 38. It’s understandable that the newlyweds want to get settled after their July 2021 marriage and continuing to work on their TV projects.
Young also recently opened up about how Tarek's cancer battles may have resulted in fertility struggles.
"Having testicular cancer, he had to be on testosterone," Heather said during an interview on The Doctors. She said she was shocked when she learned “that the testosterone he was taking could have been blocking his sperm."
But Heather did share some exciting news about their fertility journey in January. During their latest round of in vitro fertilization, seven eggs were harvested (rather than the two they anticipated), and six of them "ended up being good." They also thawed four eggs from an egg retrieval she did two years earlier, and three of those ended up making it. In total, they now have nine embryos.
Young will know when the time is right, but was quite vocal about her fears of pregnancy and balancing it all, which is common for many women but not necessarily always talked about.
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"I know I'm gonna be a good mom. But carrying your own [baby] and going through that and the pregnancy, and I don't know how my body's going to react. And I am busy," Young explained. "Sometimes I blink and the day is over, and I don't get enough done. I'm like, 'How am I gonna also take care of a newborn and be pregnant? What if I'm throwing up? What if I'm sick?' I don't have time for that right now, so I'm gonna push it off a little bit. But I'm excited."
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For now, the Netflix star is enjoying being a step-mom to El Moussa’s kids with HaackTaylor, 11, and Braden, 6.
Tarek El Moussa’s Cancer Battles
Life took a turn for the worse for El Moussa in 2013, four years after he married Christina, when. he was diagnosed with thyroid cancer.
El Moussa's thyroid cancer diagnosis came after an HGTV fan, who also happened to be a nurse, noticed a lump on El Moussa's throat while watching him on television. She contacted the network, telling them what she had seen.
In the very same year, he was diagnosed with testicular cancer.
During a 2017 interview with People magazine, El Moussa said of the experience: "I was at one building doing my thyroid stuff, and mentioned I was going across the street to get an ultrasound done. I'll never forget the doctor joking, 'I hope you don't have cancer!'"
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The treatment path for both types of cancers depends upon the stage at which the cancer is diagnosed. Common treatments for testicular cancer include chemotherapy, surgery and radiation. Treatments for thyroid cancer can include surgery, hormone therapy, radioactive iodine, radiation and, in some cases, chemotherapy.
Luckily, El Moussa was given the "all clear" and now has a new life, new wife, and hopefully a new baby on the way very soon.
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