We shared this beautiful piece on our social channels when it first went live after Mother’s Day but we just couldn’t help ourselves from sharing it again here. For many young adult cancer survivors, conversations around fertility and family building are hard, sometimes even triggering. My own fertility issues and struggle to become pregnant is one of the few pieces of my survivorship I speak very rarely about. Sam Watson, CEO of the Samfund, shared her own perspective in a must-read piece.
“’You may never have kids.” “The chemo will probably zap your fertility.’ ‘You need to start treatment now… there’s no time to talk about the rest.’ I was 21 and had just been diagnosed with bone cancer. At 23, I was diagnosed with secondary Myelodysplastic Syndrome and no further conversations about family planning were had… For anyone who is struggling with the concept of what makes a parent, I firmly believe that it has nothing to do with whether or not you share DNA. There are many paths to parenthood, none more or less equal than any other. In the end, parenting is about love, plain and simple. I am every bit a “real” mom to my two kids, both of whom I adopted at birth.”