TV Personality Giuliana Rancic Became A Mom After Cancer Treatment As New Study Shows Drop in Breast Cancer Survivors Seeking Gynecological Care

Rancic told SurvivorNet in a previous interview that speaking up about your needs (including family planning) is one of the biggest pieces of advice she can give other women going through cancer.

Giuliana Rancic discusses having children after facing breast cancer. 

“First and foremost, it’s talking to your doctor and letting them know, this was my plan: we were planning on having a child or I want to have a child down the road,” Rancic advised. “Whatever it is, getting that out there early on so you can work that into your treatment plan. For me, I’d been through the first part of IVF, which was the retrieval so I had embryos. But I knew that the medicine I was about to go on would not allow me to be pregnant for five years.

The star went onto explain that she was 36 years old at the time, and was already having issues getting pregnant. She and her husband had a candid conversation with each other and their care team about their options.

“For us, the best option was a surrogate,” she explained. “It’s very important to ask any question that’s on your mind. If it matters to you, that’s all that matters. And when you’re there in a doctor’s office, that is your opportunity to ask the questions that you want the answers to. If one of them is about your fertility journey, ask that question, because the doctor might have the answer or he or she might direct you to someone else who does.”

What did the study find?

The study’s results point to several important issues when it comes to women’s health. It was conducted by surveying nearly 3,000 women in France between 2021 and 2017. The women surveyed had all been diagnosed with breast cancer in stages I through III and were 50 years old or younger at the time of the diagnosis. Researchers surveyed the women about their contraceptive habits and whether they saw gynecologists for two years after diagnosis.

Only about 45% of women had consulted a gynecologist in the previous year at year 1, and only about 65% had consulted one by year 2. In the U.S., it is recommended that women between the ages of 21 and 29 see their gynecologist every year, and women between ages 30 and 65 see them every other year for regular check-ups.

The study authors stressed that results indicate a need to promote follow-up care after breast cancer treatment not just monitoring to see if the disease shows signs of recurrence, but making sure patients have access to fertility preservation options and counseling when it comes to sexual health.

“Patients with cancer often report low rates of overall sexual satisfaction, and these problems are not always properly addressed," the report states. (The lack of sexual satisfaction is also a factor that may be contributing to the decrease in contraceptive use).

Fertility after breast cancer

As Rancic’s story shows, having a healthy family is possible after breast cancer treatment (her son is now 10). There are other options besides surrogacy, and it’s important for young women facing cancer to speak to their doctors about what those options may be.

“Time is always of the essence when we see patients who have cancer,” Dr. Jaime Knopman, Director of Fertility Preservation for CCRM NY, told SurvivorNet in a previous conversation.

Unfortunately, not every woman is told about fertility preservation options by their doctor when making a breast cancer treatment plan, so it’s important to be vocal about your needs.

Dr. Knopman noted that there is research that more than 50% of women aren’t informed about the opportunity to freeze eggs, embryos, or other fertility preservation options. “So, I think you need to be your own advocate,” she added.

Dr. Jaime Knopman explains how fertility preservation works for cancer patients. 

“In our own practice, we usually see the patient the same day, if not the next day [after the diagnosis],” Dr. Knopman said. “The sooner we start, the sooner that patient can then go on and do their treatment.

“A lot of the success comes down to how old you are at the time you froze, and the quality of the lab in which your eggs or embryos were frozen in. Oftentimes, we just do what we call a fast start. We start them no matter where they are in their menstrual cycle … The front end or the stimulation part for egg and or embryo freezing is exactly the same.

“We give women injectable hormones in the morning and the night that drive their ovaries to produce multiple eggs for usually about 10 days … Once [the ovaries] reach a certain size, and your estrogen level reaches a certain peak, that’s when we give you your final injections and … we schedule the procedure to take the eggs out 35 hours later.

“…If you’re going to freeze eggs, then once the eggs come out, we assess them for maturity and we freeze them. If you’re going to freeze embryos, we take the eggs, we’ve fertilized them with sperm, and we grow them in the laboratory.”

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