A young woman raised her hand at the end of a seminar for young cancer survivors.

It was last spring, during an I[2]Y (or “I’m Too Young for This!”) meeting, and the seminar was on post-cancer family planning.

She said she received radiation to her abdomen during treatment for cancer in her teens and, as a result, was being told that her eggs were most likely not viable, though she is well within child-bearing age. She was upset that fertility issues were not discussed with her and her family at the time of her treatment.

Until recently, standard cancer treatments have not included female fertility preservation as a joint concern.

If cancer was discovered, regardless of the patient’s age, it was treated as quickly and as aggressively as deemed necessary (chemotherapy, surgery, and radiation being the primary tools), and that was that; fertility was not generally a part of the conversation.

But as awareness grows about the potential effects of treatments on female fertility, and as fertility-preservation techniques become more sophisticated, these discussions are changing.