'The Drastic Way I Saved My Fertility'

When I was 22, I had a sore on my tongue that wouldn't go away. My doctor ran tests – including a biopsy – and to my shock, it turned out that I had cancer.

I underwent radiation treatments, which seemed to cure me, but a year and a half later, the cancer came back and spread to my lymph nodes. That time, I'd have to undergo surgery, more radiation, and then chemotherapy.

When my oncologist went through the list of chemo's side effects – nausea, hair loss, etc. – he didn't mention potential infertility. But I did research and learned that losing my ability to conceive was a very real possibility. I'd always wanted children, so the idea of being sterile was almost more devastating than the cancer diagnosis itself.

The surgery went well. Although one-third of my tongue was removed, it didn't affect my ability to talk or taste. I had eight weeks before I would start chemo, which I spent frantically searching for a way to preserve my fertility. I learned that the Stanford Reproductive and Endocrinology Centre, in San Francisco where I lived, had a program for freezing unfertilised eggs for cancer patients only. I was ecstatic!

I began the treatments immediately. Every day, a friend or family member injected hormones into my abdomen (I couldn't do it) to stimulate egg production. The shots caused terrible mood swings, and my ovaries became so enlarged, they hurt. After 12 days of this, doctors removed 29 eggs, which were sucked out via a tube inserted into the vagina.

I also opted for medically induced menopause to protect my reproductive organs from the chemo. For two months, I endured nausea, vomiting and dehydration brought on by chemo, combined with menopausal symptoms like hot flashes, bloating, and mood swings.

That was seven years ago, and I'm still cancer-free. I gave birth to a girl in June 2006. I didn't have to use my frozen eggs. But the chemotherapy accelerated the 'age' of my ovaries, so I might have to use them in the future in order to have more kids.

Author: Lindsay Nohr Beck