Fertility navigation program

The MACC Fund Center’s Fertility Navigation Program supports people with cancer and blood disorders who may be at risk for future problems with fertility (the ability to produce a baby). Our care team includes Co-Directors Dr. Kerri Becktell (Oncology) and Dr. Rachel Phelan (Bone Marrow Transplant), Fertility Nurse Navigator, Katy Tomlinson, Nurse Practitioners Katie Robbins and Deb Schmidt, and Survivorship Nurse Clinician, Julie Nichols.

We meet with patients and families who want to learn more about their fertility risk and fertility preservation options (collecting and saving eggs or sperm outside of the body, to use in the future to try to have a baby). Discussion can happen from the time of a new diagnosis, all the way through to the end of treatment and after treatment is complete. Some people choose to have a fertility preservation procedure and some people do not. Our goal is to make sure all patients and families understand their fertility risk and the options that are available for fertility preservation. This is how patients and families can make the best decisions for themselves.

We look at the treatment plan to understand the level of risk.

These things can create fertility risk:

• Chemotherapy
• Immunotherapy
• Radiation
• Surgery
• Bone marrow transplant
• CAR-T therapy

We also look at specifics for each patient:

• Age
• Stage of puberty
• Type of cancer or blood disorder

With this information, we educate and counsel on fertility risk and preservation options.

Fertility preservation options we offer:

• Sperm banking
• Testicular tissue cryopreservation
• Egg banking
• Ovarian tissue cryopreservation (partnering with Anne and Robert H. Lurie Children’s Hospital in Chicago, IL)
• Other options may be available based on specific patient needs

Along with fertility, we also discuss hormones and how treatment or illness may affect the body’s ability to make certain hormones. The MACC Fund Center fertility team works with providers who specialize in fertility, hormones, growth and development. The team may refer you to a specialist in one of these areas:

• Adolescent medicine
• Endocrinology
• General surgery
• Psychology
• Reproductive endocrinology
• Urology

The specialists will help you learn more about your options. They will take the best care possible of your fertility and hormone health. The fertility navigation team is here to help guide you through the process.