Join Us For A Week of Infertility Support
Infertility can be a devastating side effect of breast cancer treatment in young women because of the sensitivity of a woman’s eggs to anti-cancer drugs. The effect of treatment on fertility depends on your type of cancer, where it is, your age, gender, the type of cancer treatment you undergo and your response to treatment. Some breast cancer therapies may cause women to stop menstruating, either temporarily or permanently, and women who continue to have normal menstrual cycles may go through menopause earlier or may be less fertile following chemotherapy. In addition, while standard hormone-based cancer therapies do not typically cause permanent infertility, they often require years of treatment during which women are advised not to become pregnant.
This is not to say that there aren’t women who do go on to have a healthy pregnancy after breast cancer. There certainly are – and I urge you to take hope in their stories. However, for some women, infertility is a legacy of treatment which can cause grief and heartache for a long time. We need to learn how to meet our pain with compassion and courage in order to be able to heal. Someone who has taught me a lot about how to do this is Justine Froekler, licensed professional counsellor and vocal advocate for breaking the shamed silence of infertility and fighting to recover thereafter. Justine has recently published a new book, Ever Upward, a wonderful heartfelt memoir of how she and her husband Chad redefined their lives after infertility.
Justine and I are collaborating for a week of online infertility support starting February 9th and we hope very much you will join us for a very special series of guest posts, community and support.
You can start by registering today for our Thunderclap campaign. Thunderclap is a new platform that allows people to pledge a Tweet or Facebook message that is concentrated and unleashed all at the same time. Think of it as a massive online social media flash mob. It is completely safe and will automatically post exactly one message on your behalf. Takes just 5 seconds and your support in spreading the message of support in both the infertility and cancer communities can help so many.
Mark your calendars for 9th February
Join us here for the week beginning 9th February, when we will be sharing stories, answering your questions and offering our support. We will also give away a personalized signed book and Ever Upward journal package as a prize for one lucky reader. And you will have a chance to purchase you own copy of Justine’s book at a special 50% reduction for JBBC readers.
Looking forward to having you join us.
As someone who suffered fertility issues as a result of chemo at 34, I am looking forward to this series. I do hope adoption is covered as a viable option for family building as that is the path I chose. It is now 15 years later for my son and almost 14 years later for my daughter and my life has been so blessed having them as my children.
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Sharon, I’d love for you to cover this aspect. I have just sent you an email.
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Reblogged this on Ever Upward™.
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Such an important topic. Thank you to you both for your collaborative efforts next week in striving to bring more support to those dealing with this sensitive subject. It’s telling me I’m too late for the thunderclap campaign, but I will tweet and share this post and will be checking in next week as well. The book sounds wonderful too. Thanks again.
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Thanks Nancy – your support means a lot to me
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I’m so happy to see this. Very much needed. Big hugs. T xo
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I hope you’ll join us next week Teri – lots of interesting guest posts lined up
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What a marvelous support system this series will be. I’m in Sharon’s camp: chemo rendered me infertile and, as you know, I chose adoption. I do realize that it’s not for everyone — like so many things, how one builds a family is a personal choice. Glad you both are covering this important topic.
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