Cancer patients face costly choice between treatment and future fertility

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For 27-year-old Sara Tingle, a Stage 3 breast cancer diagnosis came with an unexpected additional burden: potentially sacrificing her dream of motherhood.

"I waited in life to have kids until I had that stability and was able to provide for them and that comfort, and this came out of nowhere," Tingle told 3News.

Like thousands of cancer patients of childbearing age, Tingle faced a devastating reality: The very treatments that could save her life — surgery, chemotherapy, and radiation — could also destroy her ability to have children naturally.

Fertility preservation options exist, but at dramatically different price points depending on gender.

"To freeze sperm for future fertility, it's around $500, whereas to freeze eggs for fertility, it's $10,000 to $15,000," explained Dr. Rebecca Flykt, division chief of reproductive endocrinology and infertility at University Hospitals Cleveland Medical Center.

These costs are rarely covered by insurance for cancer patients, creating an impossible choice between lifesaving treatment and future family plans.

Flykt says 10% of new cancer cases each year affect people of childbearing age. A national movement aims to protect these patients' reproductive futures through insurance mandates.

Monica Robins reports.
Category
Oncology
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