What is some advice for a man dealing with infertility or the prospect of it?

We see a number of couples who come to us having been dealt this hand, where they’ve been diagnosed with cancer. Maybe they’ve been diagnosed and already been treated for cancer, and they’re looking at the issue of fertility. Especially for young couples, this is a very, very important issue—this issue of fertility, the ability to have children. It’s something that we find that many people take for granted, and when this issue, or the prospect, of having children, is no longer an assured thing, it can cause lots of problems for individuals and for couples.

And I would say that for the male partner, who’s dealing with the diagnosis of cancer, or perhaps he’s been treated for cancer and has fertility issues, realize that there is a process through which the cancer itself and the cancer treatment may have a negative physical and psychological effect on you that can come through a change in testosterone with a lower libido, erection issues; just the stress and anxiety of having a diagnosis of cancer alone can significantly affect the way a man feels. This can then spill over to his relationship with his partner. It’s important for him to realize that. It’s important for him to realize that some of the things that we ask him to do—ejaculating into a sterile specimen container—these are not natural things, but they’re part of a process, and part of a pathway to get to a point down the road where the cancer and the fertility concerns are behind them.

It’s important for men to be patient with themselves and understand that most men do recover normal libido, normal erections after their cancer therapy, and most men do preserve their ability, or have their ability preserved, to reproduce. Sometimes they may need to rely on assisted reproductive techniques, such as intrauterine insemination or in vitro fertilization. But the good news is that there is hope.