OncoFertility from Time Magazine

Alex Comments:  The growing field of fertility for cancer patients combines what I know a lot about: fertility and cancer.  I am a fellow of the American Board of Oriental Reproductive Medicine.   and knowledgeable about treating cancer from my own cancer experience, training and practice.  See my website for fertility and cancer information.  As a practitioner of Chinese Medicine I can help a woman restore her fertility when appropriate.  Whether using amazing technologies such as surrogacy, ovarian tissue cryopreservation, embryo freezing, or sperm freezing, the need for cancer patients to integrate strategies to maximize their vitality and intelligently manage side effects of cancer treatment is a life and fertility enhancing strategy.  Like Oncofertility, integrative oncology is an area of research and clinical practice that is a new concept for many. 

Recently I met with Alice Crisci,  a cancer survivor and founder of Fertile Action.  This is a cancer charity of community partners for women of reproductive age. They ensure women can protect their right to motherhood for women who are being treated for cancer.  This is a great organization and resource. She states, It is the only 100% inclusive discount program for all women to pursue fertility preservation. She also launched the Fertile Action Network, a multi-disciplinary outreach campaign to ensure every doctor discusses fertility risks with their patients.

Holly Trandel was married on Oct. 1. Like any other bride, she juggled an endless to-do list before gliding down the aisle of St. Alphonsus Church in Chicago, the train of her fluted ivory silk gown sweeping between the oak pews.
Unlike other newlyweds, however, Trandel, 29, already has her future as a mother mapped out — five potential babies on ice at Northwestern Memorial Hospital, where she works as a community health educator.

Trandel was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2009, two months after getting engaged. But in many ways she considers herself lucky. Her cancer was caught early. It also happened to be discovered at the hospital that serves as the hub of the nationwide Oncofertility Consortium, a network of some 60 cancer centers where doctors take a larger-than-usual view of the aftereffects of cancer—namely, the impact of treatment on a patient's fertility.
What it means to survive cancer today is very different from what it meant 20 or even 10 years ago. Back then, doctors and patients approached cancer like a monster to be slain; surviving was the only goal. But as treatments have improved, cancer patients have begun demanding more than just survival. They want a return to life as usual. They want to be normal people, leading normal lives. They want to have babies.


Read the whole Article here : http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,2022642-1,00.html#ixzz12e4IjHjf

Fertile Hope

Fertile Hope is a national nonprofit organization dedicated to providing reproductive information, support and hope to cancer patients whose medical treatments present the risk of infertility. The Natural Healing and Acupuncture Clinic was just listed in the Cancer and Fertility Resource Guide.

With 25 percent of breast cancer patients under the age of 45, fertility is of special concern, particularly since new research suggests that pregnancy between six months and two years after breast cancer will not impact survival, and for those who wait 24 months to become pregnant it may actually have a protective effect. In the study, published in the British Medical Journal, 123 women who became pregnant up to two years after treatment showed improved overall survival compared with women who did not get pregnant  with the protective effect most clearly evident for those who waited at least two years to get pregnant.

See article in the June 2005 British Medical Journal, Pregnancy and Cancer a Clinical Review

If you are facing a cancer diagnosis and are pregnant or recovering from pregnancy and want to become pregnant there are many resources we can offer you at the Natural Healing and Acupuncture Clinic to help you with cancer and/or fertility.