• In this fact sheet we will explain some of the fertility options available to you after finishing treatment.

• If you haven’t started your cancer treatment, check out this fact sheet for fertility options before commencing treatment.

• For general information on fertility and how cancer treatment’s can affect your fertility please visit our fact sheet, fertility info for men.

You may have just finished treatment and be wondering “what happens now?” There may be hundreds of questions running through your head - mostly about getting your life back on track and moving forward.

You are probably feeling very different now compared with before you were diagnosed with cancer.

One of the things you may be wondering about is your ability to have children and if your treatment may have affected it.

Now What? Fertility once treatment has finished

• Cancer treatment can have an impact on fertility. The impact depends on the type of treatment, how much you had and your body’s response. 

It is very hard to predict what the impact may be as everyone’s body is different and everyone’s response to treatment is different. 

For more information on the different types of effects cancer treatments can have on your fertility visit our fertility info for men fact sheet.

First steps...

• The first thing to do is work out whether you had any fertility-preserving interventions before you had treatment. These are things like sperm freezing or testicular tissue freezing.

• If you were quite young when you had cancer you may not remember whether you did or didn’t have any fertility intervention. If this is the case, the best thing to do is to talk to your parents or doctor and find out.

• If you did undergo fertility preservation, then your parents or doctor will know where your sperm or tissues are being stored and will be able to put you in contact with the right people.

What happens if I haven’t had any form of fertility preservation?

• If you didn’t undergo any preservation techniques, then your first step should be to go to a fertility testing clinic and find out whether you will be able to have a baby naturally, or whether you may need some help.

• For information on places where you can have your fertility tested visit the sexual health and family planning website.

How do I know if I can have children?

• It is really hard to tell whether your treatment has had an impact on your fertility because you may be able to produce semen, but you will need to have it tested to determine the number and quality of sperm in the semen.

• You will undergo some tests (yes – more tests) to determine what your fertility status is. If you are anxious and keen to go to a testing centre immediately after treatment, you may be told to wait a while till your body settles back down to a more normal rhythm. This is so the tests can be more accurate.

• You may find that you return to your normal reproductive state within a couple of months of finishing treatment. To be on the safe side though, if you are going to have sex it is best to always use contraception (to prevent both pregnancy and STI’s) and undergo testing so your fertility status is known.

Fertility testing

• A semen analysis is the most common test for men to undergo to determine their fertility status. It measures the amount of semen you produce and determines the number and quality of sperm in the sample.

• In order to undertake a semen analysis you will need to provide a sample. In order to do this you will need to go to a clinic or fertility centre. 

• You will be told step-by-step what to do by the staff there, and given as much time as you need. To give you some idea of what will happen, you will be required to masturbate (you may know this as ‘wanking’, ‘jerking off’ or ‘jacking off’) and ejaculate samples of your sperm for collection into a jar.

• Your sample will then be taken into the lab for testing.

• If you have no sperm in your ejaculate, then your doctor may also want to consider a testicular biopsy to determine if there are any sperm that are viable remaining in the testicular tissue.

• If there are no problems then you should be able to conceive ‘naturally’ (through unprotected sex).

Resources

To order a free copy of our fertility book, Maybe Later Baby for young people with cancer visit our order resources page.

For more information on fertility clinics and other relevant stuff visit: www.fertilehope.org

For information on places where you can have your fertility tested visit the Sexual Health and Family Planning Website.