Pregnancy after partners cancer treatment

[Evelynjean]

Hi everyone,

little background- unfortunately my partner has been diagnosed with stage 2 seminoma (testicular cancer) and is going to be undergoing one round of chemotherapy (4 infusion/cycles) over 4 months. This has been such a difficult time, obviously the main thing is that he is going to be ok and there is a 95% survival rate. However I’m really a struggling emotionally with the impact this could have on his fertility. he did bank his sperm and he was told they were very healthy. But I’m still hoping we might be able to conceive naturally after his treatment as I think there’s a two year wait list on Nhs and I’m not getting any younger (33 years old)! I wonder if anyone has had any experiences of this themselves?

My hubby had testicular cancer 6 months after we got together. We said no to the sperm banking as we weren't long together and just couldn't even think about it at that time. 10 years later.... in June we started TTC. I really thought we would find it difficult, him having 1 testicle, I'm 31 and he's 33 however we fell on first cycle and I'm now 21 weeks pregnant 😁😁 it's a hard enough time just now so don't put extra stress on yourself xx

Not testicular cancer, but my DH had chemo for Hodgkin's lymphoma when he was 25. He also banked sperm beforehand and we paid to keep it in storage for several years as we weren't ready to TTC at the time. We started trying about 5 years later.

In the end, it was me who had difficulties getting pregnant, at it turned out I had PCOS. DH had sperm rechecked as we were referred to the fertility clinic and his counts were all back to normal. We now have two DSs, one conceived with Clomid (so no help needed on his side) and the second totally spontaneous! We binned the banked sperm after DS1 was born.

Life after cancer hasn't always been easy by any means, but the fertility side of things is one area we have been lucky.

DH was diagnosed with a seminoma (I think it was stage 2 but can’t remember exactly) in 2009. We were TTC at the time, so he banked sperm before his orchidectomy, but his consultant then decided that chemo wasn’t necessary at that point. I got pregnant with DS about 6 months later. Unfortunately the cancer reappeared in a lymph node, and DH had 4 cycles of fairly hardcore chemo. We didn’t really think about fertility at that point as we had DS and the banked sperm from before, but 11 months after the chemo ended I got pregnant again; a complete surprise!

The children are now 12 and 10, and DH has been in good health since. I still remember the fear though. I wish you and your DH the best of luck.

So sorry you're going through this. My partner had stage 2c testicular cancer diagnosed in December 2020. He had the orchindectromny in January and then 3 rounds of BEP chemo over 9 weeks Feb/ March 2021. Finally he had some lymfnodes out which was the final blow to his fertility ... or so we thought.
We went straight to IVF as my partner was left with retrograde ejaculation with not much hope after so much treatment. We assumed the frozen stuff from Jan 2021 would be affected by the cancer and the fresh stuff affected by the chemo.
Actually we got three embryos (I think it would have been more but I was possibly under stimulated) we chose to split the eggs from egg collection between fresh and frozen sperm. We had one clear front runner fresh one make it to day 5 - I'm currently 23ish weeks pregnant.
The two other embryos that are in the freezer are from frozen pre treatment sperm.
I was 30 when my partner was diagnosed and surrounded by friends starting family it was a really dark time. My heart really goes out to you. My advice would be not to wait and get yourself on the waiting list for NHS, whilst it will be a male factor problem it will still be yourself who will have the referral and need tests. Just focus on yourselves and not statistics. We had 2 years drilled into us until any fertility returned - the staff at the clinic where blown away by my partners sample which would have been 10 months post treatment.
We chose to let go of chasing getting pregnant naturally and all the potential disappointment that would bring and accept the help on offer. That was the best thing as it meant we got our heads into IVF as soon as treatment was done. Best of luck with whatever you decide to do :)

My dad was 47, had chemo and still managed to get my mother pregnant ( she was 40). My sister is 25 now

My husband had Hodgkins Lymphoma 2 years after we married. He was 37 and I was 32. He banked sperm before chemo started but we were later told it was very poor quality. We then just concentrated on getting him better and getting through the chemo. Thankfully, he was given the all clear but, to be honest, we were totally sick of hospitals (during this time I also lost my dad to cancer) and didn't think we, personally, could face IVF, we'd been told there was a long waiting list and we couldn't afford to pay and there was the worry over whether it would work or not, so we decided to adopt and our little boy has just turned 21.

Thanks for all your responses. It’s very reassuring to hear so many positive outcomes both from natural conception post chemotherapy and through ivf and that there is hope which is all I really want.

I have felt very guilty for worrying about this as it’s not me going through it, but it’s crazy where the mind takes you during such a dark time, but I know we are very lucky that it’s such a treatable type and I know I need be grateful for that.