Groundbreaking hope to conceive a baby
A 36-year-old cancer survivor is the first in NZ to have her frozen ovaries re-implanted in the hope of conceiving a baby.
At 24, Alana Scott didn’t know if she would have children or if she would be alive to see them grow.
Flatting with friends in Grey Lynn while studying German and art history at university, her world collapsed when a doctor told her the reason she was dramatically losing weight was rectal cancer.
“My doctor wasn’t expecting it to be cancer because I was only 24. It was surreal and I don’t think I fully took it in at the time,” Scott told the Weekend Herald.
Her oncologist advised that radiation could leave her menopausal and there was no time for IVF treatment, to freeze her eggs, as her cancer was too aggressive.
She was, however, given the option to freeze the cancer-free part of her ovaries — even though surgery to insert them back into her body in
2010 was classed as “experimental” in New Zealand and therefore wasn’t available.
Fast-forward 12 years, Scott, now
36, is cancer-free and on Monday she will become the first woman in New Zealand to have her frozen ovaries implanted back into her body in the hope of conceiving a baby.
It’s a procedure only carried out about 1000 times around the world, and some 140 babies have been born as a result of it.
A second woman is also lined up for the same surgery on the same day as Scott.
The Ministry of Health is funding both operations with the intention of paving the way for other women.
This dream became a reality after Scott’s mum sent Health Minister Andrew Little a heart-felt email after years of advocating for the surgery by fertility doctors.
“It feels quite strange. I don’t think I have fully taken it in that it’s happening,” Scott said.
Scott decided she wanted the surgery after meeting her partner Todd. They met seven years ago, when she was 28 and he was flatting with friends of hers.
“He’s nervous about the surgery and focused more on the fact that I’m having surgery, whereas I’m hoping it will work and looking forward a bit further, but he’s supportive.”
The two-hour surgery was planned for a year ago but it kept getting delayed as the Covid pandemic put a strain on our health system.
“It will be great if it works but I’m hesitant about getting too invested because I feel like, with everything we’ve been through, it’s not that likely but it’s an exciting possibility.”
Scott will have one night in hospital and is expected to take one to two weeks to recover.
“It’s really cool it’s happening because there’s more and more women getting ovarian tissue frozen,” Scott said.
Surgeon Dr Leigh Searle has performed the procedure six times in Australia.
The Wellington Hospital gynaecologist and fertility specialist furthered her training by spending one year in Melbourne to study options for cancer patients who are left infertile after cancer treatment but still want to have children.
She said while freezing eggs had helped so many parents have children, it wasn’t always an option for cancer patients because it took 14 days and sometimes they didn’t have that long to wait before starting treatment.
“The other thing is if we are freezing ovarian tissue we then have thousands of eggs rather than the smaller amount of eggs from one cycle of IVF treatment, which only gives about 10 to 15 eggs,” Searle said.
This meant women had more chances of conceiving a baby.
She said this surgery could benefit so many women.
Even better, the surgery could be an option for young girls who hadn’t yet had their period but had become infertile because of cancer treatment, Searle said.
“We can’t freeze their eggs because they haven’t gone through puberty, but we can freeze their ovarian tissue.”
She said to date, only about 140 babies worldwide had been born through this surgery which had been performed nearly 1000 times.
“I’m really excited that we can finally do this New Zealand . . . it’s finally happening.”