Fertility after cancer treatment

Cancer treatment can affect fertility in a number of ways. For example:

• In women and people assigned female at birth, some chemotherapy drugs can stop periods while on treatment and these may or may not return after treatment ends. Hormone treatments can also affect fertility and some hormone treatments are given for 5-10 years. If you want to become pregnant, you need to talk to your doctor about stopping the hormone treatment. Sometimes, if the chemotherapy or hormone treatment has put you into menopause, it may not be possible to get pregnant. 
• In men and people assigned male at birth, sperm count after treatment may be reduced or there may be no sperm produced at all. This can be caused by chemotherapy, hormonal treatment, surgery or radiotherapy. 

After treatment, you can have tests to check your fertility. This may be a few months or up to a year after treatment. These tests include:

• A blood test to see how well the ovaries are working
• A sperm test 

Talk to your doctor or nurse who can organise these tests for you. They may also refer you to a fertility specialist.

If your fertility returns after treatment, deciding when or if to have a baby can be a very difficult decision to make. Talk to your cancer specialist to check that it is safe for you to have a child. They may advise you to wait some time to give your body a chance to recover from the effects of treatment.

If you froze eggs or sperm before your treatment and are thinking about using them, you should talk to your oncologist. They can advise you about when and if this might be possible. 

You may have had your eggs or sperm frozen at SIMS IVF Clinic as part of a free service available to cancer patients. If you’re going ahead with using those frozen eggs or sperm, you can have treatment at SIMS IVF Clinic or choose to go to another fertility clinic. 

If you want to be treated elsewhere, it is possible for the frozen eggs or sperm to be transferred to a clinic of your choice. However, your clinic must agree to it beforehand and the transfer is done at your own risk. Using your frozen eggs or sperm will have fees. These should be discussed with the fertility clinic you choose to go with.

Infertility means that you can’t have a child naturally without medical assistance. This can be very distressing for you and your partner.

In some cases there may be options for you to explore. For example, fertility treatment, egg donation and adoption. It is important to discuss your options and the timing of any treatment with your doctor. You can also receive specialist counselling to help you with this. Your doctor can refer you to a fertility specialist.

Coping with infertility

It is not easy to hear that your fertility may be affected as a result of cancer. For some, dealing with infertility can be as hard as dealing with the cancer diagnosis. The sense of loss can be painful, no matter what age you are. You might not even have thought about having children before your cancer diagnosis. Feelings of anger, grief, sadness and loss of identity are common at this time. For some, the reality may only sink in when treatment is over. 

Support

It can take a while to talk about your feelings and emotions. When you are ready, you may find it helpful to talk openly to your partner, your family or a friend about these feelings.

If you would prefer to talk to someone outside your circle of family and friends, ask your cancer nurse about support groups that may be available. Speaking with people who have had similar experiences can be a great comfort.

You can also ask your doctor or nurse to arrange for you to speak to a counsellor or a specialist, if you cannot deal with the strong emotions that you may have. The Irish Cancer Society also funds free one-to-one counselling, both remotely and at many local cancer support centres. You can call our Support Line on 1800 200 700 or visit a Daffodil Centre for more information on counselling.