There is an interesting discussion currently taking place on the Younger Breast Cancer Network (UK) Facebook page about this subject.
It seems that many younger ladies are still not having their future fertility addressed by their medical teams, and some ladies were never even asked about whether they wanted children/more children in the future, and the impact chemotherapy might have on their subsequent fertility. I thought I would open the discussion out onto the BCC forum as it is a public forum and it is such an important discussion that any younger ladies out there with a breast cancer diagnosis need to be aware of it.
Please feel free to add your comments below. I recall from the dimmest corner of my (admittedly very dim) mind that there was a younger women’s leaflet which highlighted the way we should be treated by medical professionals, and the medical teams addressing the fertility issue was, I think, part of the recommended pathway. Can any of the moderators help and post the link if it exists as I haven’t been able to locate it.
Hi, we were asked if we were planning on any more children (we have one 3year old). W were told as we already had one child we wouldn’t be eligible for funding but if we wanted to pay we could go thru the fertility treatment first before chemo started. We had already decided to stoop at one and didn’t want to delay treatment. So that was that.
Here is a link to the Stan** dards of Care for Younger Women in the Younger Women with Breast Cancer booklet. O**n page 62, points 5 and 6 it is talking about fertility discussions.