Allison’s Journey to Motherhood After Childhood Leukemia 

 

At three years old, I was diagnosed with “incurable” chronic myelogenous leukemia. My parents were told that my disease was terminal and to go home and enjoy the time they had with me. Refusing to accept defeat, my parents found an experimental program at Boston Children’s Hospital offering bone marrow transplants on leukemia patients like me.

Before I underwent this procedure, I had to undergo intense chemotherapy and radiation to destroy the abnormal stem cells and blood cells that were attacking my body. However, as with all experimental procedures, the outcome is unknown; luckily, the transplant was a success.

Even so, chemotherapy and radiation proved to have some lasting side effects, the most serious being infertility. In many cases, cancer surgery or treatment can interfere with some parts of the reproductive process and affect someone’s ability to have children.1 Radiation treatment uses high-energy rays to kill cancer cells and can impact a woman’s reproductive organs, affecting fertility.2

As I navigated adulthood as a young woman, I struggled with my infertility, and the prospect of starting a family seemed daunting and isolating. I was lucky enough to connect with a few people who were integral in who introducing me to the idea of egg donors and surrogacy. Through the help of a fertility clinic, gestational carrier and egg donor, my husband and I are the proud parents of a healthy 10-year-old. Now, working at Donor Egg Bank USA by CooperSurgical, I am incredibly lucky to be in a position where I help others like me create a family. 

1 American Cancer Society
2 American Cancer Society

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