As we approach this holiday season, there is much to be thankful for when discussing the bold strides we are making in the battle against cancer.  Just this past year, the “Annual Report to the Nation on the Status of Cancer, 1975-2002,” reported that cancer death rates from all cancers have dropped by more than 1 percent.  Furthermore, younger cancer patients (those diagnosed under the age of 45) have a greater than 70 percent chance of surviving more than five years. 

While our increasing success in the fight against cancer is cause for celebration, it also raises a host of new challenges for individuals and their families living with, through, and beyond cancer.  For example, a leading cancer survivorship concern, especially among young adults, is cancer’s impact on fertility.  Although they are potentially life saving, cancer treatments such as surgery, chemotherapy, or radiation can also be potentially sterilizing.  Fortunately, fertility preservation options are on the rise as well.  Sperm banking, embryo freezing, oocyte (egg) freezing, ovarian and testicular tissue freezing, and other fertility preservation options can often be performed in advance of cancer treatments, offering patients hope for a family, a future, and a full life beyond cancer. 

Tragically, many cancer patients are neither informed of their risk for infertility, nor are they told about their options to preserve it.  In fact, one study reveals that only 10 percent of oncologists discuss this issue with their patients.  As a result, young adult patients often do not learn that their fertility was at risk and that there may have been ways for them to preserve it until it is too late. 

In response to this issue, I helped introduce H. Con. Res. 174, a bipartisan resolution which expresses the need to raise awareness about the fertility side effects and preservation options for cancer patients.  The resolution also promotes biomedical research in this area, and recognizes the need to improve access to fertility preservation options. In Congress we are working to identify creative solutions to this unique, emerging issue.

Furthermore, non-profit organizations such as Fertile Hope and the Lance Armstrong Foundation should be commended for their efforts to address this significant cancer survivorship concern.  Fertile Hope’s public education and awareness program, as well as its Sharing Hope program, are ensuring that cancer patients have the information and resources they need to preserve their fertility.  For more information about Fertile Hope’s activities in this area, visit www.fertilehope.org.

This holiday season I hope that we can all take a moment to reflect on the progress we have made in cancer treatment and remember that much work remains to be done to ensure that many patients not only survive cancer, but that they thrive after cancer.

Pictured above: (center) Congresswoman Capps meets with Central Coast firefighters to discuss emergency preparedness.