Are you a young adult cancer survivor who is interested in knowing more than whether you are fertile or infertile?  Yea, me too.  I want to know if I still have 10 good childbearing years or whether I’ll face menopause earlier than a normal young adult because of my cancer treatments.

Enter the reproductive window study being carried out right now by the University of California San Diego!  I was walking down the aisles of the exhibitor area of CancerCon, talking to another young survivor friend of mine about this very topic of “how much longer am I fertile?!” when we happened upon an OncoFertility table.  There, with tears in my eyes, I learned about this Reproductive Window Study.  Once I was home, I signed up, was sent the instructions for the study and voila!  Everything has been done at home.  They send me what I need with step-by-step instructions and I send it back when I’m done.  They are looking for many more young adult cancer survivors, young women age 18-40, to join the study!  You can sign up today! 

When you sign up for the study, there is a detailed questionnaire they ask you to fill out.  One of the questions asked about depression and anxiety.  The question had depression/anxiety/PTSD/Bi Polar all grouped together though!  I didn’t know what to do…and so my anxiety kicked in.  I felt lonely and fairly worked up over this simple question that didn’t feel simple at all, but full of everything that cancer had done and had taken away from me.  I didn’t know what to answer but I wanted so badly to be a part of the study.  Instapeer (if you don’t know what this is, check it out!) wasn’t working but I needed to reach out to someone who would understand exactly what I was going through…so I found one of the wonderful survivors on facebook that I met at CancerCon and messaged her.  Within minutes she responded.  It was so nice to talk through my problem with someone who knew exactly what I was feeling.

Young Adult Cancer sucks.  There is so much riding on every decision that you make.  Getting as many answers to as many of my questions as possible has been one of the ways that I cope with how much cancer has taken away or made more complicated.  Together, we can gain knowledge and support one another!

Here’s more about the study from the study coordinators:

Are you female and age 18 to 40? Have you had a cancer diagnosis and cancer treatment? If so, the Reproductive Window Study needs you! Researchers at UC San Diego want to know how cancer treatments affect the reproductive health of young adult female cancer survivors. Window Study participants will be followed for 18 months and asked to complete study activities at FOUR study time points. Interested? Please visit www.youngcancersurvivor.com, contact the study team at 858-822-0768, or email ayastudy@ucsd.edu!

Go here for more info!

Are you interested in joining the study?  Have you already joined?  Let us know!