Top 5 Questions to Ask Your Oncologist about Cancer & Fertility

1. Will my cancer treatments put me at risk for infertility?
2. What are my fertility preservation options?
3. If I don’t preserve my fertility, what are my post-treatment family-building options?
4. How long does it take for fertility to return and how will I know if I am fertile?
5. Is pregnancy safe after cancer and what are the risks to my children based on my cancer and the treatments I received?

Looking for a Reproductive Doctor or Service?

I am thrilled to announce that the 2009 Cancer & Fertility Referral Guide is now live! With more than 800 listings, it is the most comprehensive tool of its kind in the industry. We completely revamped our system (thanks to webflow solutions), so that you can now compare centers side-by-side, request an appointment, view insurances accepted and initial consultation fees (many offer free initial consults for newly diagnosed cancer patients), link directly to their success rate data, and more!

Check it out and tell me what you think!

p.s. In our poll 67% of you voted YES to selling advertising on our website for the Referral Guide, so we did. The companies who advertised made this cool new tool possible. Thank you!

OMG! Cancer Summit in NYC - Free Tickets Now Available!

Fertile Hope is proud to participate in the OMG! Cancer Summit in New York City in May. I'll be moderating the cancer and fertility session and our fabulous fertility expert, Dr. Elizabeth Fino from NYU Fertility Center, will lead the discussion and answer your most burning questions. Space is limited and we are expecting a full house (thanks to a performance by cancer survivor Kevin Hearn of the Bare Nakes Ladies!). Register now (it's free!)!

Educate Me: Complementary and Alternative Medicine for Cancer-Related Infertility

Last week I was inundated with emails about complementary and alternative medicine (CAM). Requests for referrals. Questions about its viability to help with cancer, infertility and other medical conditions. Inquiries about my personal experiences and beliefs. The volume of requests in one week sent me down memory lane to a time when I was obsessed with CAM. This was, of course, when I was in the midst of my cancer crisis. I tried it all. I have my own miracle stories as well as spooky experiences. There are things I’ve incorporated into my daily life and others I’ll never do again. From my perspective, CAM doesn’t seem to be as popular in the fertility world as it is in the cancer world, but the area is growing. Where the two overlap – in our world of cancer and fertility – there seem to be a lot of unanswered questions. For example, you are born with all of the eggs you will ever have and once they are destroyed there is nothing anyone can do to bring them back. Is there a role for CAM here? Please educate me. Can CAM help cancer survivors preserve their fertility? Can it help with pregnancy after cancer? Patients, survivors and I want to know more…

Tired of Pink? Help Us Figure Out How to Bring Infertility Out of the Closet...

Years ago no one talked about breast cancer publicly. It was whispered about in the aisles of the grocery stores, kept behind closed doors, and dealt with in secret and isolation. Now, it is on billboards in Times Square! This is exactly what needs to happen with infertility. We are still in the whisper phase and need to figure out how to get to Times Square.

Today, I was in a great meeting brainstorming with a diverse group of leaders from the reproductive community. The meat of our conversation was how to change this – specifically, how the entire reproductive community can work together to increase awareness and improve access.

I truly believe that we can achieve more together than we can alone, which is why meetings like this get me very fired up. The key is to make sure that the conversation doesn’t stop with the meeting. So, while we all digest all of the ideas discussed and before we move forward with any new programs, I want to solicit your advice. How do you want to see us remove the infertility stigma and increase access to treatments?

Take Our Poll - Should Nonprofit Organizations Sell Ad Space on their Websites?

Until recently, my answer to this question was a firm no. The Fertile Hope team knew not to broach the subject with me. I wouldn’t budge. Until last week, when we opened intake for our annual Cancer & Fertility Referral Guide and, gasp, we are selling online ads.

What changed? A lot. My job is to do what is best for our users. Patients and survivors keep telling us that they want more information, more customization, more, more, more. They want it easier, faster and all for free. We used to be able to meet these needs through big corporate grants, but the landscape of fundraising is changing and those grants are not as easy to come by. So, we had to get creative. Can we tie meeting a patient need with a diversified, sustainable revenue stream?

We checked out the market to see how others do it. What is WebMD’s revenue model? Ad sales. BabyCenter? Ad sales. What do you think? Take our poll. Does this take away from the credibility of the information we provide? Would you rather have no ads and no information or ads and the information and tools you need? Would you rather pay for the information yourself? While we wait to hear the verdict – please buy your ads!

What is the Best Way to Reach You? Cancer Survivor Conferences (or Bars)?!

Every year Fertile Hope participates in a number of conferences for cancer survivors. Some are amazing and highly attended. Others don’t seem to catch on and few people attend. As a cancer survivor, I often ask myself – if I wasn’t in the “industry” would I even know about these events? And, if I did, would I attend? As part of the Fertile Hope team, I often ask myself – are these conferences the best way to reach you? At a President’s Cancer Panel meeting a few years ago someone asked Lance Armstrong: what is the best way to reach young adult cancer survivors? His response: at bars! Chins hit the floor! It was hysterical and true – more people in our demographic go out to bars than attend survivor conferences. So, tell me, what is the best way to reach you?

Educational Brochures - To Print or Not to Print?

A few trends are weighing on Fertile Hope's educational outreach strategy and I’d love your input. First, the trends… everyone is going green. The economy has seen better days. Our target demographic is young adult cancer patients and survivors – a demographic that lives online. Next, the dilemma… we are wondering if we need to continue to develop, print and distribute patient educational brochures or if you’d rather find all of the information online? Online only is attractive – it’s cheap, its green and we can provide deeper, more customized information like you see with our Comparison Tool, Risk Calculator and Options Calculator. Offline has its benefits too – although it is costly to design, print and mail, it has a physical presence in your doctor’s office, patient libraries and cancer centers across the country. Is it still important to be in both places?