Breast cancer and IVF/pregnancy

Hi Ami K568bc1,

Thanks for getting in touch.  My name is Kelly and I’m one of the Cancer Information Nurse Specialists.

We’re sorry to hear that you are experiencing some uncertainty after making decisions to freeze your eggs before starting chemotherapy.  Although not nice feelings to have it’s not unusual to have doubts when making any decisions about your personal care.

We also understand not knowing exactly what is likely to happen in the future can be overwhelming.   Many people worry about cancer coming back after treatment and if any decisions they make now would contribute to this. 

Your breast care team would always consider any risks versus benefit when guiding you about decisions to preserve your fertility.

This would include looking at the type of breast cancer, the stage and grade, other factors such as hormone receptors and any treatments given to reduce the risk of cancer coming back.  If they were concerned about any delays to starting chemotherapy, they would have let you know about this when making any decisions.

As we’re not directly involved with your care here or have full access to your medical history your breast care team are best placed to give you specific reassurance and support with your decisions.

We would encourage you to get back in touch with your consultant or named Breast Cancer Nurse Specialist (if you have one at the hospital).  They would want to know about how you are feeling about things right now and give you further reassurances with this.  They would also work closely with local fertility specialists and services when helping to support you with the best information for your situation.

Make sure to explain about your worries for the future too if you were to get pregnant.  We have to acknowledge that no one can look into the future and offer guarantees but maybe understanding your individual situation now may ease some of the fears.

I’m not sure if this would help but according to a large Swedish study in 2020, they found that common methods of preserving women’s fertility before starting breast cancer treatment were deemed safe for young women.  

The American National Cancer Institute have given the best overview of this study  to make it more understandable which is why I have included it here for you to read.  As with any study there were some limitations such as accounting for any differences between each patients individual risk factors including timing of fertility preservation and other underlying health problems which could affect results. 

This information wouldn’t also replace getting specific advice from your own breast team.

Although the priority is to get more reassurance from your breast care team today, I hope that you have been able to share and get support from family and friends around you.

I’m not sure if you are aware of this but Breast Cancer Now also have a support network called ‘Younger Women Together’ and a ‘Someone like me’ service’.

There may also be local emotional and wellbeing support centres nearby which offer different types of support too.  You can ask your breast team about this but also have a look at our ‘Find a local cancer support service finder’.

I hope this information has helped a little. Please know, you can always get back in touch as needed.

Take care and best wishes,

Kelly (Cancer Information Nurse Specialist)

You can also speak with the Macmillan Support Line team of experts.  Phone free on 0808 808 0000 (7 days a week, 8am-8pm) or send us an email or use webchat.

Ref: KA/GeS