Branimir was born nearly 10 years after his dad froze his sperm; now he joins other IVF babies to celebrate the fifth anniversary of Bourn Hall’s Essex clinic in Wickford with the world’s first test-tube baby, Louise Brown.
Bran’s dad Nick was single and only 24 when he was diagnosed with Hodgkin’s Lymphoma and was asked if he wanted to freeze some sperm.
The cancer treatment was successful and, now 33 with wife Geri, Nick says it was the best thing he could have done. “If I hadn’t said yes to sperm freezing when I was 24 I wouldn’t have my fantastic little boy.”
Looking back now, Nick says he is eternally grateful to his cancer specialist for giving him the option nine years ago to freeze sperm and has the following advice for other young men faced with a cancer diagnosis and asked to make a quick decision prior to starting chemo about fertility preservation:
“Freeze your sperm, it is a no brainer,” he says.
“If I hadn’t said yes to sperm freezing when I was 24 I wouldn’t have my fantastic little boy.”
Fertility preservation ahead of cancer treatment
Chemotherapy affects both female and male fertility: in women it can stop the ovaries from working and can cause an early menopause; in men it can reduce the number of sperm produced or affect the sperm’s ability to fertilise an egg.
Bourn Hall has a state-of-the-art cryopreservation service and to keep open your chances of having a family in the future, we offer comprehensive freezing programmes for eggs, sperm and embryos.
“Fertility treatment can be a very emotional journey,” says Dr Arpita Ray, Lead Clinician at Bourn Hall Essex. “So to throw the curve-ball of cancer into the mix makes it even more so. We find that many of the cancer patients who come to us for sperm, embryo or egg freezing get a reassuring sense of asserting some control of one aspect of their life when they might be facing some really tough times ahead.”
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