Fertility Preservation

Cancer Support

When faced with a cancer diagnosis, many patients choose to freeze their eggs, sperm or embryos before undergoing treatment. Oncology treatments such as radiation, chemotherapy and surgery can be detrimental to the reproductive system. Freezing eggs or sperm prior to treatment preserves fertility and provides a gift of time.

Often there is a small window of time between diagnosis and oncology treatment so we give these patients needing an appointment top priority. Please schedule an appointment to discuss your options.

Medical Necessity

Commonly, fertility preservation is chosen when either member of the couple is facing a diagnosis for a medical condition whose treatment threatens future fertility for the patient, particularly chemotherapy and radiation treatments for cancer. These treatments are effective at eradicating the cancer, but they have a detrimental effect on fertility.

In order to preserve the ability to have a biological child once treatment is completed, some of our patients choose to participate in egg/embryo freezing, or sperm banking. In each case, the eggs, embryos or sperm will be frozen for treatment later, once the patient is healthy. HRC works with Fertile Hope, an organization that supports patients with resources to meet urgent timelines to complete their fertility preservation before treatment begins.

Delayed Parenthood

Fertility preservation is not just for couples facing a health challenge, however. More and more women are choosing fertility preservation so they can delay childbearing for a later date and still be able to use their eggs. Egg freezing is a procedure that takes the eggs of a woman who is under 35 and stores them for a point later in her life when she is ready to have children.

Fertility preservation by women for nonmedical reasons has grown in popularity in recent years. There are two main reasons for this. Advances in reproductive technology have made the egg freezing process more reliable, making it more likely the egg can be fertilized in the future. In addition, the American Society of Reproductive Medicine (ASRM) lifted the designation of “experimental” to the process in 2012, making the procedure more mainstream than it was once considered.

Fertility preservation is an important consideration for many couples. HRC Fertility is able to provide many great options for individuals who for one reason or another need to delay children for a while.