For many people, cancer treatment is a chance to fight for their health or their life. However, it can be associated with certain side effects, such as temporary or permanent infertility. Fortunately, a cancer diagnosis does not have to mean giving up on plans for parenthood. How can you protect your fertility before treatment? The answer to this question is oncofertility, or oncofertility.
Cancer and Dreams of Parenthood
A cancer diagnosis often disrupts existing plans and priorities. In a short period of time, daily responsibilities, career plans, and family plans give way to diagnostic tests, medical consultations, and preparations for treatment. This is accompanied not only by concerns about health and the future, but also by questions about the possibility of fulfilling plans related to parenthood.
When the priority is to start treatment quickly and effectively fight the disease, fertility issues often take a back seat. However, this does not mean that steps cannot be taken to preserve fertility after cancer treatment. Unfortunately, many patients still do not receive sufficient information about available fertility preservation methods before starting cancer treatment. They do not revisit this issue until after treatment is complete, when the options for preserving biological parenthood may already be limited. For this reason, it is extremely important to discuss topics such as chemotherapy and fertility—or “oncfertility”—with your doctor before treatment begins.
Check out: How can you help people with cancer?
Does cancer treatment cause infertility?
Both the cancer itself and the treatment methods used can negatively affect fertility. In some cases, reproductive dysfunction occurs even before treatment begins—for example, in people with leukemia, there is a deterioration in semen parameters and a reduction in ovarian reserve. When it comes to cancer treatment itself and the ability to have children, several factors must be taken into account. These include the patient’s age and health status, the type and location of the tumor, the treatment methods used, and, finally, the time that has elapsed since the end of therapy. Fertility after cancer treatment may be temporarily impaired. It is also possible for a person to become infertile, for example, after the removal of reproductive organs. Aside from radical surgeries, chemotherapy and radiation therapy have the greatest impact on fertility.
Is it possible to have children after chemotherapy?
Chemotherapy may or may not affect a patient’s fertility. The most common side effects of the treatment include a decline in semen parameters in men (a decrease in sperm count and motility) and damage to the ovaries due to hormonal imbalances in women.
Does radiation therapy affect fertility?
Radiation therapy can affect not only a cancer patient’s well-being but also their sex life and fertility. Complications related to sexual function most commonly include a decrease in libido, vaginal dryness in women, and erectile dysfunction in men. The impact of radiation therapy on fertility depends, among other factors, on the area being treated. The greatest risk of impaired fertility occurs with whole-body radiation therapy, as well as radiation to the abdominal area and reproductive organs.
How Can You Preserve Your Fertility If You Have Cancer?
People who are waiting to begin cancer treatment and plan to have children in the future should consider preserving their fertility. This is the focus of oncofertility. It is a relatively new field of medicine and provides support for cancer patients by combining oncology and reproductive medicine. Thanks to modern diagnostic and treatment methods, a patient’s reproductive material can be frozen, giving them a chance to fulfill their dreams of parenthood. Oncofertility is particularly important in light of the rising number of cancer cases, including among young people.
What does fertility preservation involve? There are several options. For women, this most often involves retrieving and freezing eggs, and for men, freezing sperm before cancer treatment. If the patient is in a relationship and has this option available, another choice is to freeze embryos before cancer treatment.
Young Cancer Patients and Fertility
Preserving fertility in young patients, including those who have not yet reached puberty, is more difficult but not impossible. One solution may be to freeze ovarian and testicular tissue.
There is one more important issue to consider, namely financial considerations. How much does fertility preservation cost? For some patients, it is available free of charge; others must cover the costs themselves.
Fertility and Cancer Treatment – A Program of the Ministry of Health
Preserving fertility in individuals prior to cancer treatment is one of the priorities of the Ministry of Health’s government program. Cancer patients can enroll in the program without waiting in line. However, certain conditions must be met, and participants must pass a qualification process. The program is aimed at people in a specific age group—from puberty up to age 40 for women and up to age 45 for men. Under the program, the freezing of eggs and sperm is covered by reimbursement. Importantly, funding for the storage of reproductive material is guaranteed until the material is used or destroyed, but only for the duration of the program (currently 2024–2028).
If a patient is unable to participate in the program due to age or health reasons, or if they wish to use other fertility preservation methods, they must pay for the procedures themselves.
How much does it cost to freeze eggs?
The freezing of reproductive material is a process that consists of a consultation visit, the qualification and testing phase, preparation for the procedure, the procedure itself, and finally, the storage of the eggs. The final price depends on the services offered by the specific medical facility. The average cost of the entire procedure in Poland is several thousand zlotys, and sometimes even over a dozen thousand zlotys. It’s worth remembering that each additional year of egg storage requires an additional payment in an amount determined by the clinic.
For many people, this additional cost—especially right before the start of cancer treatment—places a significant strain on the household budget. A fundraiser for cancer treatment could be a solution . The patient can use the funds raised for diagnostics, treatment, and rehabilitation, including egg freezing before chemotherapy.
Check out: what the funds raised can be used for.
If you’d like to talk about how to preserve your fertility before cancer treatment or need help raising funds for treatment, please contact us. Cancer Fighters is a foundation for children and adults with cancer. For years, we’ve been supporting brave fighters in their battle against the disease by providing them with psychological and practical assistance and offering them a safe platform for fundraising. We know what a person has to face after a cancer diagnosis. We also know what we can do to support them at this time. Write to us or call us to find out how we can help you or someone close to you.
Bibliography
- Fertility Preservation for Cancer Patients, onkologia.gov.pl, accessed June 18, 2026.
- Infertility treatment involving medically assisted reproduction procedures, including in vitro fertilization performed at a medically assisted reproduction center, for the years 2024–2028, gov.pl, accessed June 18, 2026.
- Feldberg D, Purandare N. Cancer therapy and its impact on reproduction.Int J Gynaecol Obstet. 2025;169(3):891-894.
- Pankiewicz, K., “Preserving Fertility in Cancer Patients—2020 Update,” podyplomie.pl, accessed June 18, 2026.
