Fertility On Hold For Child Cancer Patients

For parents of young children diagnosed with cancer, looking ahead can be at once terrifying and consoling. Now, a burgeoning field of research allows those parents to consider their pre-pubescent child's ability to someday bear children — and to take steps to protect that ability. "Survival rates for pediatric cancers are higher than ever," says reproductive endocrinologist Jani Jensen, head of the fertility preservation program at Mayo Clinic. "We hope their experience with this illness is a blip on the radar screen of a life that includes the things we all want, including the option to have children."