Hope for child cancer patients to start family later in life
:: Project to freeze sperm and eggs
CHILDHOOD cancer patients will have a bigger chance of starting a family later in life, thanks to a new initiative from the Irish Cancer Society.
The €420,000 Childhood Cancer Fertility Project is a five-year strategy with a programme taking place over three years that will see those with cancer being given the opportunity to undergo preventative treatments if they wish.
Mature children who have been diagnosed with cancer this year will be able to freeze their sperm or eggs, as well as store testicular or ovarian tissue before treatment, with the opportunity to use it after they finish treatment if fertility is affected.
Women aged 18 to 25 years would be able to have an assessment and explore treatment options if they are at a high risk of early menopause or reduced fertility due to their treatment.
A third strand of the initiative would see a development of services for the freezing of testicular and ovarian tissue, beyond the five-year plan, made available to younger children who have not reached maturity.
Under this initiative, children with cancer would be able to avail of these services free of charge if they wish.
“It’s becoming more and more of an issue because, thankfully, more and more children who get cancer are surviving into adulthood,” said Director of Services at the charity Donal Buggy.
“Four in five children diagnosed with cancer are now surviving.
“The technology has evolved for assisted reproduction to such an extent it can make it possible for preservation options that were not possible for children diagnosed with cancer.”
He said that anecdotally he knows of two families who travelled abroad to receive fertility treatment in the past year. “I would know of children who have gone to the UK for these services. In some cases, parents will bring this up and have the conversation and be very aware.
“We’re hoping for this conversation to be had with every parent now,” Mr Buggy said.
The society hopes that this initiative will extend beyond the three years.
“We’re investing in this for a period of three years and the ultimate aim of our investment is that, at the end of three years, infrastructure will be built up and the State will take on the provision of these services,” he said.
The project will be delivered with the Merrion Fertility Clinic and will see “hundreds of children, adolescents and young adults given a precious chance at future parenthood through the use of cutting-edge fertility preservation methods”.
He said that Ireland is currently lagging behind other European countries in having no state-funded fertility preservation service for children and adolescents with a cancer diagnosis.
“It will also provide counselling for patients and their families to help them understand and explore fertility options available to them, improve the referral process for such treatments, and empower healthcare professionals to inform their patients about the availability of these services,” Mr Buggy said.
While advances have been made in recent years to make cancer treatment less toxic and more targeted, Mr Buggy said that chemotherapy, depending on the dosage and the kind of treatment, can see patients losing fertility and some women going through early menopause.
Radiotherapy, especially that targeted in the pelvic region, can also result in a loss of fertility in some patients.