Overview
When children have cancer, health professionals and families may not always think about fertility but some cancer treatments can damage a child or teenager’s ovaries or testicles.
Decisions about preserving fertility are usually made before treatment begins and often involve specialists, the young person and their parents or carers. Parents of children under 18 usually need to consent to procedures to preserve the child’s fertility.
When a child or adolescent is diagnosed with cancer, the focus is often on survival, so health professionals and families may not always think about fertility. Many young people say that fertility is important to them.
Some cancer treatments do not affect a child’s reproductive system, while others can damage the ovaries or the testicles. Sometimes this damage is temporary, but sometimes it’s permanent. See Fertility after a cancer diagnosis for more details on how cancer treatments affect fertility.
In many cases, decisions about fertility preservation are made before treatment begins. Often the decision involves specialists, the young person and their parents or carers. Parents of children under 18 will usually need to consent to any fertility preservation procedures.
During and after treatment for cancer, young people continue living life as normally as possible, which may include going on dates and having a partner. They may feel confused about how much to share with others about having cancer and the impact on their fertility. The organisation Canteen supports young people aged 12–25 who have been affected by cancer. It offers counselling and also runs online forums and camps. To get in touch, call 1800 945 215.
The Royal Women’s Hospital in Victoria allows young people to have their ovarian or testicular tissue harvested by their own fertility specialist and then transported and stored at the national cryobank at the hospital.
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