Hello everyone

The Leukaemia Foundation is holding Fertility Preservation Seminars for people affected by blood cancer in the NSW region.

As many of you know, some chemotherapy and radiotherapy regimes can compromise fertility in both men and women. In women, some types of chemotherapy and radiotherapy can cause varying degrees of damage to the normal functioning of their ovaries. This can lead to early menopause. In men, sperm production can be impaired for a while but the production of new sperm may become normal again in the future.

There are some options for preserving your fertility. To hear more about these options please come along to the Leukaemia Foundation's two free seminars on fertility preservation.
Details are below:

Wednesday 25 MARCH
FERTILITY PRESERVATION FOR PEOPLE WITH BLOOD CANCER
Speaker: Dr Christopher James, IVF Specialist
Venue: WRD, 2/26 Ralph Black Drive, North Wollongong
Time: 6.30pm – 8.30pm

Saturday 23 MAY
FERTILITY PRESERVATION FOR PEOPLE WITH BLOOD CANCER
Speaker: Dr Raewyn Teirney, IVF Specialist
Venue: Rockdale City Council Conference Room, 2 Bryant St, Rockdale
Time: 10am – 12 pm

All seminars are free and refreshments will be served!!

FOR INFORMATION AND BOOKINGS
Please contact Snezana
Ph: (02) 4226 9199 or 0423 781 074
or refer to Leukaemia Foundation's website www.leukaemia.org.au


Thanks
Danielle

Thanks Dan - those seminars sound really valuable , not only for young persons who've been diagnosed with a blood cancer or who are at higher than average risk, but for their supporters eg parents or guardian. As JOJO on these forums can attest, it may be a parent who has to go out and do battle to preserve the fertility of a daughter or son who's been diagnosed with a blood cancer.

Nobody in Australia of reproductive age or younger who is diagnosed with a blood cancer should be given any treatment that might compromise their fertility before fertility preservation options have been thoroughly explored with both the patient and their parent(s) or guardian. Unless there is a medical emergency that must take precedence over preserving fertility. And let's face it, a young person suddenly faced with losing their fertility is a medical emergency in it's own right .

Cheers,
Ed.

Blue Sky wrote:

Nobody in Australia of reproductive age or younger who is diagnosed with a blood cancer should be given any treatment that might compromise their fertility before fertility preservation options have been thoroughly explored with both the patient and their parent(s) or guardian. Unless there is a medical emergency that must take precedence over preserving fertility. And let's face it, a young person suddenly faced with losing their fertility is a medical emergency in it's own right .


Totally agree.....at the moment though, it seems as if you are lucky to even be given rudimentary information-something must change and soon. The assumptions have to stop too..ie this treatment causes this and that.....everyone is different- there is no way of predicting with any absolute accuracy or certainty the outcome of most treatments (other than maybe TBI etc), particularly as we are increasingly hearing that against the odds, younger survivors are spontaneously conceiving, when initially they are told there isn't any or a very very slim chance.

Lesley