Women with breast cancer finding it hard to conceive

Women with breast cancer finding it hard to conceive

As a person who wants to be informed, I have always relied on media to bring me up to speed. Even though the media is a secondary source, it remains accurate. The journalists are trained professionals, and therefore, they will always try to make their news as precise as possible. I am an ardent reader of The Toronto Star, which is popularly known as theStar.com online. In general, the person in this article is to understand the kind of news I consume. As someone who reads health and wellness stories, I always search for articles that are informative and persuasive. Hence, in this case, I picked an article from the Star. Also, I used a scientific piece to underscore some critical points raised in the press article. All in all, what is right in the selected popular press article is that despite women with breast cancer finding it hard to conceive, they can still bear children

Press article summary

There is an article; I picked from The Star recently. It is an inspiring story of a mother who had a baby after breast cancer. Breast cancer is a significant killer disease among women, especially in the developed world. It is interesting to note that after a battle with breast cancer, a woman can continue with procreation. This article shows how a person can continue with child-bearing after healing from cancer. Even though it is something tough, especially after losing the natural shape of a breast, there is still hope that a breast cancer warrior can have a child.

The article titled “I’m having a baby 10 years after breast cancer” was written as told by the cancer survivor. It was published in October 2019 and today, I still read it. This is an informative article, which does not get stale. There are many breast cancer patients, who are wondering if they can have children after this disease wreaks havoc on their body. In this story, the lady being reported in the article suffered breast cancer at a tender age of 29 years. She had not married and got her only children, but was planning to get them when she gets married. However, after her embryos were frozen, she thought it would be impossible to get a baby. Luckily, she was able to get a baby naturally. This article then brings me into understanding how breast cancer can affect one’s fertility. This breast cancer warrior received hormonal therapy, radiation and chemotherapy in the effort to treat her.

Scientific article summary

The scientific article picked for this matter studied breast cancer and fertility. It addresses a fundamental issue of pregnancy after breast cancer. The authors of the article are from the Department of Reproductive Medicine, Mother and Child Hospital in New Delhi, India and Dr Patil’s Fertility and Endoscopy Clinic in Bengaluru, Karnataka, India. The authors are experts in fertility or reproduction, and therefore they have the authority to address the issue of pregnancy after breast cancer. According to Mahajan, & Patil (2019), fertility is always affected by chemotherapy since it ovarian reserves are compromised by chemotherapy. The authors add that usually, a woman will need pregnancy after BC (PAFBC) treatment for her to have a healthy or successful pregnancy. In essence, indeed, it is not easy to get a child after breast cancer due to interfered fertility. The authors state that with advanced medicine, it is safe for women to conceive after completing their treatment.

This happens once fertility is preserved.

Breast cancer interferes with fertility.

As Lalancette (2019) notes in her reporting, before breast cancer treatment was begun, the embryos had to been frozen. Given that this is a woman who suffered from BC when she was just 29 years old, it was possible that in her future life, she wanted a baby. The decision to take a precautionary measure like freezing embryos was informed by the fact that this breast cancer was going to render infertile if necessary action is not taken. Note that the BC survivor had to see an OB-GYN with a speciality in high-risk pregnancies every year as continued with cancer treatment. Also, after informing the specialist that they were ready to get a baby, they were advised to do so naturally before she could get 40 and above. This confirms the fact that breast cancer is a massive threat to the fertility of a woman, and it can make it impossible for them to get a baby or children. For an average person, getting children is essential, and therefore the issue of fertility must always be taken seriously when a person is diagnosed with BC.

There is science behind the likelihood of fertility of a woman with breast cancer being interfered with. Based on the scientific article, it is noted that the curative treatment in breast cancer mostly uses gonadotoxic chemotherapy which can lead to partial or complete loss of fertility (Peate, Stafford, & Hickey, (2017).However, the drug used is likely to determine the fertility of a woman during her treatment. Also, the dosage can affect the fertility of a woman (Mahajan, & Patil, 2019). The authors add that pregnancy rate after healing from BC is nearly 70 per cent lower than in normal women. This is due to decreased fertility, pregnancy complications, fears of side effects of maternal cancer on a child and possible sexual dysfunction. Some other studies by Lambertini et al. (2017), agree that despite young women with breast cancer wanting to have children, their fertility is usually affected treatment. This means that chances of getting a baby after BC are low, given this scientific evidence.

Role of Counseling after BC and pregnancy

In the press article, the patient was always counselled by a psychiatrist to help her deal with mental health issues during her treatment. Counselling must have helped her become hopeful in life, and that is why she was able to get a child. Review of the articles by Mahajan, & Patil (2019); Lambertini et al. (2017), and ter Welle-Butalid & Vriens et al. (2019), inform that counselling plays an important role. Counselling would help women understand fertility preservation and the possible actions they can take to conceive after their treatment. In essence, counselling plays a role of educating young women on fertility preservation, gives them hope and mental health that will help them deal with pregnancy-associated issues (Sella, & Partridge, 2020).

All in all, the popular press article and scientific article underscore present data that shows the challenges women with breast cancer encounter when they want to conceive after their treatment. The conclusion made by the article reflect data and show that BC treatment delays plans to get a child. Indeed, the popular article made a compelling conclusion that there is light at the end of the tunnel because women can get babies after their BC treatment. However, what needs to be done better is that the press article writer should sometimes give a piece of scientific evidence for their reporting. Nevertheless, future research should perhaps elaborate clearly how counselling is a mediating factor for women with breast cancer as far as their efforts to conceive a challenge is concerned. The study was accurate, and nothing was missing, and its findings can be used to make predictions in other fields.