Amanda did decide to freeze her eggs despite the high cost and even though there was no guarantee of success.

Transcript

I had the surgery and then 4 weeks later I was in Ottawa for an egg retrieval. That was… so much had to come together during that 4-week period because we were waiting for so long for… I had the surgery in March and then the pathology didn’t come back until weeks later. Then finally when the pathology was back it, showed it was in one lymph node which meant definitely, yes I would be needing chemotherapy and radiation and the whole shebang. As soon as I found out that chemo was a thing, I knew I’d have to do the egg retrieval, and all that had to happen in one day. It was one Friday where I saw the medical oncologist and then, because of where my cycle was and stuff, I had to start the fertility drugs and prepare for the egg retrieval, to not delay the start of chemotherapy. That was another really hard day. It was really hard on the day when I found out I need chemo and I need to start the fertility drugs today before 4 o’clock and that was at 3 o’clock, so it was hard.

I knew straightaway that for me having to do chemo, I was going to do egg freezing. The first day I got the information, I kind of thought it through and thought maybe I shouldn’t do this but then I thought “No” I should, because the main barrier about why I wouldn’t have done it would have been financial and I wasn’t going to let that stop me. Because I don’t know, I think that $10,000 for the procedure and then all the other expenses aside it’s minor over the span of a lifetime for something that’s so important. So I didn’t want that to be the reason why I didn’t do it. So it was kind of like if I need chemo, I’m going to get egg freezing and that’s how it’s going to be and that was it for me, I just knew. It was a lot to think about though, because it’s just, there’s all sorts of stuff about the probability of eggs translating to a pregnancy or not. It’s not overly high, especially with eggs instead of embryos. You’re kind of thinking “God why am I even doing all this is there’s not even a high percentage it’s going to work out.” But there is a slight chance, it could always work. Lots of people go through it and it works for them, so I thought why not just make sure the option is there. If I come through this chemo and I can’t have… if my fertility is totally compromised and I can’t do this on my own, then at least I have that option there. Because fertility, losing your fertility is a potential side-effect of chemo. It doesn’t happen to everyone, especially if you’re younger, they say there’s a better chance of your ovaries recovering and coming through the chemo. Okay! But it’s still not a sure thing. I thought if there was something I could do I would do it.

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