Can people with leukemia have children?
My boyfriend had leukemia when he was young and had chemotherapy done and I heard that people who have chemotherapy done cannot have children because it kills their sperm cells. Is that true?
- midnightmoon62
It varies from person to person. He needs to see a fertility specialist and have testing done to determine sperm count and sperm mobility.
If really depends on the individual body, the specific chemo or radiation he went through, and if he had a bone marrow transplant or not. It may or may not be possible and only a doc can tell for sure.
- zrepmd
While this is possible, most young (particularly very young) patients exposed to chemotherapy recover fertility. See the link to an article about fertility after acute lymphoblastic leukemia therapy (most likely diagnosis I presumed for your boyfriend). There was little effect on long-term fertility except in patients who received high-dose cranial radiation.
One way to evaluate... see a urologist (or maybe his regular doctor can do it) and have his sperm tested.
God bless, best wishes
- Madeline D
Some men and women who have had chemotherapy find it hard to have children. Some are never able to have children. This can be devastating. It doesn't happen to everybody, but we don't know exactly how many people are affected. If you are still young and want to have children, discuss it with your doctor.
Good luck and God bless.
- formerly_bob
Not all people become sterile, but its pretty common. It depends on the type of chemotherapy - the specific drug, the dosage, and number of treatments, and age at the time of treatment. The only way to know is if your boyfriend gets tested.
- Char
Not sure.
But, here's where you'll find the best info:
http://www.leukemia-lymphoma.org/hm_lls
Best wishes
Leukemia — Comprehensive overview covers symptoms, causes, risk factors, treatment of this blood-related cancer.
Orignal From: Can people with leukemia have children?
No comments:
Post a Comment