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Fertility Preservation Patient Blogs About Her Experience

July 30, 2010
pkt551

More than two years ago, Kara DeFrias began a blog about her journey to conceive a child. Over two years, this journey was unsuccessful. In the attempt to determine the cause of her infertility, doctors discovered that Kara had uterine cancer in February of 2010, at age 34. The cancer was still relatively early so while Kara had to undergo a surgery to remove her uterus and ovaries, Kara did not need chemotherapy or radiation. Prior to the surgery, Kara began working with Oncofertility Consortium members at the University of California, San Diego to undergo embryo banking. When Kara's uterus and ovaries were removed, Kara donated some of her ovarian tissue to support the research at the Oncofertility consortium. Since her uterus was removed, Kara and her husband have begun to look into getting a surrogate for their child and it is looking promising. Kara’s chronicles are an inspiration to other fertility preservation patients. Read them here.

Categories: 

  • Fertility Preservation, General

Tags: 

  • cancer, Fertility Preservation, hysterectomy, Personal stories, Surrogacy

Radiation to Ovaries Increases Risk for Stillbirth: A Potential Use for Ovarian Tissue Cryopreservation?

July 29, 2010
pkt551

Radiation therapy is a tried-and-true method for treating cancers. However, this treatment also causes tissue damage and DNA mutations to the patient. Damage to the sexual organs or DNA mutations within male sperm or female eggs may cause pregnancies to result in miscarriages, stillbirths, or...

Categories: 

  • General, Research

Preorder New Oncofertility Book on Amazon

July 28, 2010
pkt551

In 2007, the first book about Oncofertility discussed many of the scientific and medical advances available to cancer patients wishing to preserve their fertility. Collaborators at the Oncofertility Consortium now examine the humanities and social science aspects of the field in the book ...

Categories: 

  • General, Oncofertility

Is Fertility Preservation Ethical After Brain Injury?

July 27, 2010
pkt551

I read an article last week and just can’t stop thinking about it. The article, posted in the New England Journal of Medicine, is a case study of a patient at Massachusetts General Hospital. Briefly, the case study tells the story of a woman who suffered a blood clot that traveled to the lungs and...

Categories: 

  • Fertility Preservation, General

Fertility Preservation for Patients with Autoimmune Diseases

July 22, 2010
pkt551

Patients with cancer and those in need in of stem cell treatments often risk losing their fertility in exchange for a clean bill of health. Fertility preservation options give these patients the ability to have children. Additional patients, such as those with autoimmune diseases, can also benefit...

Categories: 

  • Fertility Preservation, General

Bright Pink Visits the Oncofertility Consortium

July 21, 2010
pkt551

This past Monday, Sarah Halberstadt, the National Program Manager for the group Bright Pink came to visit us at the Oncofertility Consortium. Bright Pink is a not-for-profit organization that educates and supports young women who are at high-risk for breast and ovarian cancer. The members of Bright...

Categories: 

  • General

Chromosomes and Cancer: Genes Determine Risk for Chemotherapy-Induced Menopause

July 19, 2010
pkt551

The links between breast cancer and genetics are well established. However, it is not know exactly what makes some women more likely than others to lose their fertility after cancer treatment. We recently wrote a blog post on the correlation between amenorrhea, the absence of a menstrual period,...

Categories: 

  • General

Insurance Often Doesn’t Cover Fertility Preservation Costs

July 16, 2010
pkt551

Receiving a cancer diagnosis is traumatizing. Your doctor runs some tests, possibly sends you to a specialist, and then tells you the bad news. Within a few days, you must process this life-changing information, decide on and receive fertility preservation, and start cancer therapy. But what...

Categories: 

  • Fertility Preservation, General, Oncofertility

Stem Cell Transplants Increase the Need for Fertility Preservation

July 15, 2010
pkt551

The mission of the Oncofertility Consortium is to advance and promote fertility preservation options for cancer patients. However, treatments for diseases besides cancer can also cause infertility. In particular, patients who undergo stem cell transplants can lose reproductive abilities from their...

Categories: 

  • Fertility Preservation, General

Huffington Post Cares about Cancer

July 13, 2010
pkt551

An international collaboration between cancer organizations is launching the International Charter of Rights for Young People with Cancer. This group is leveraging their influence to improve cancer diagnosis and treatment for young people. The Huffington Post recently posted an article on the...

Categories: 

  • General, In the news

How does Cancer Affect Your Sexuality?

July 12, 2010
pkt551

The Oncofertility Consortium advances the reproductive future of cancer patients by maintaining their fertility. However, cancer patients and survivors can also suffer from sexual health problems independent from fertility.

Receiving a cancer diagnosis can significantly affect feelings of sexuality...

Categories: 

  • General, Research

Techniques in Fertility: Ovarian Tissue Cryopreservation

July 9, 2010
pkt551

Over the past decades, advances in fertility, such as in vitro fertilization, also increased reproductive options for female cancer patients. Prior tobeginning chemotherapy and radiation, patients can now freeze down their eggs or embryos to be used after beating the cancer. Unfortunately, these...

Categories: 

  • Fertility Preservation, General, Oncofertility

BRCA and Babies: The Relationship Between Breast Cancer Genes and Fertility

July 6, 2010
pkt551

In 1990, Mary-Claire King, PhD made a groundbreaking discovery: she identified a gene that was similar in people with inherited forms of breast cancer. She identified this gene by examining families with rare forms of breast cancer, such as those occurring early in life, in both breasts, or among...

Categories: 

  • Fertility Preservation, General, Oncofertility

A Link Between Cancer Survival and Menstrual Period Loss

July 2, 2010
pkt551

A recent study in the New England Journal of Medicine shed some light on the link between chemotherapy and loss of ovarian function. The treatment of cancers, while lifesaving, can cause infertility in both men and women. Cancer therapy reduces fertility by affecting the ovaries. Chemotherapy and...

Categories: 

  • General, Research

Cancer and Health Care Reform

July 1, 2010
pkt551

We posted last week on the Cancer Rights Conference in Chicago, Illinois hosted by the Disability Legal Resource Center. The health care reform bill was one of the most discussed topics at the conference. Formally called the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, the bill instates changes in...

Categories: 

  • General, In the news