Suddenly a disease like cancer comes and life stops to face it, but sometimes it is convenient to look to the future to be able to continue moving forward in the present. A total of 1,372 patients from all over the world have already accepted the IVI Program for Oncology Patients “Being a mother after cancer” and have vitrified your ovules before starting treatment for your illness.
October is the month dedicated to making visible and giving support to all those women diagnosed with breast cancer and from IVI we want this year to provide a point of light in the future. Being a mother after cancer is possible. Specifically, since we started with the “Being a mother after cancer” program, which thanks to our Sustainability work, is free for all those patients in Spain who have been diagnosed with cancer, we have managed to have 37 babies born, 37 reasons to find hope.
Two techniques to be a mother after cancer
The IVI fertility preservation program has allowed 37 babies to reach the world worldwide since it was launched in 2007. In the case of women, two are the most common techniques used.
- On one side, oocyte vitrification, which consists of cryopreservation –direct immersion in liquid nitrogen at a temperature of -196ºC- of the mature eggs obtained after ovarian stimulation, in order to use them once the disease has been overcome with the same quality with which they were stored.
- On the other hand, the ovarian cortex is also frozen to transplant it after cancer, which would even allow spontaneous pregnancies to be achieved when the patient recovers her ovarian function. This technique is applied in those cases that require an immediate start of chemotherapy –without time for ovarian stimulation-, in women in whom ovarian stimulation would not be recommended or in pre-pubertal girls.
In some cases a double preservation is even necessary, if the man also suffers from cancer, as was the case of a couple who was forced to preserve semen and eggs at IVI Alicante. After both finished their respective treatment, they were the parents of a baby who returned their joy: “It was undoubtedly the greatest reward we could receive, after the double battle we had to deal with,” they say.
We wanted to speak and let some of these women tell their case in the first person. Stories worth reading and hearing over and over again for the example of courage, struggle and love behind it.
“It helps a lot to make plans for the future, such as being parents”
“It is worth looking forward and making future plans such as being parents, because it helps you overcome the disease and makes the fight even more important,” are the words of Itziar, a patient who came to IVI Bilbao to to be able to preserve her fertility against the breast cancer that she had just been diagnosed with.
That is why many times it is convenient to visualize the happy ending not only of the disease but of the process of searching for a child, think positively and consider waiting simply as a matter of time. Silvia, a patient at IVI Barcelona, took six years to overcome the breast cancer that she had been diagnosed with and always kept in mind that one of the reasons to keep going was to be a mother. The happy ending to her story came after two IVFs and her name is Valentina.
For Mª Paz, breast cancer came at a time when she and her husband had considered becoming parents, which made the blow even harder. But finally, after freezing oocytes and overcoming chemotherapy, she achieved her long-awaited pregnancy at IVI Madrid. “When we heard the beat we started crying. Raúl is the child we have wanted to have for years. Now I no longer remember not having been with him, for me he is one more ”, he explains with emotion.
Last year we gathered three of these women together with the director of IVI Madrid, Dr. Juan Antonio García Velasco to find out how they felt and the fears they encountered along the way. Susana, who already has her son at home and Estrella and Irene who are still on the first part of the road, recovering from cancer. We leave you the summary of the conversation
Like these, there are many stories of wishes and dreams fulfilled after going through the hard time of breast cancer. That is why we speak of 37 reasons for hope, as many as children have come to the world to fill the lives of their families with enthusiasm and we want to send a message of optimism to all women who want to be mothers and in these moments have paralyzed their dream the illness.
The future is closer than it seems.
