October is breast cancer awareness month.  A topic I am very passionate about.  With 1 in every 8 diagnosed it is no surprise that I personally know too many friends, colleagues, clients and even my own mother who have endured this devastating diagnosis.

This past weekend, I had the distinct privilege of being a sponsor at the Susan G. Komen for the Cure® Awards which was held at the beautiful Kennedy Center in Washington DC.  The production was flawlessly produced by my previous client and now very dear friend, Joy Zucker-Tiemann.  This past summer Joy offered me a ticket to the show and I respectfully declined her kind offer and said, “Heck no, such an important cause, I need to be a sponsor!”

With behind the scenes access, Saturday day and evening at the Komen event was truly humbling.  I met so many wonderful and very talented fund raisers, committed scientists working to end breast cancer and thousands of dedicated volunteers all to raise awareness and education for early detection and the need for more research.  I met celebrities, Olivia Newton John, Lynda Carter, Cynthia Nixon and Stephanie Mills to name just a few.  I heard the stories of global leaders like Ida Odinga, a dynamic woman who empowers Kenyan women to have a voice.  I saw Laura Bush receive a well deserved lifetime achievement award for launching groundbreaking educational and healthcare programs for women in more than 75 countries globally.  The celebrity voices of Ricardo Chavira, Jennifer Griffin and Andrea Mitchell rang loudly to emphasize that we will not stop until breast cancer is curable.  The sheer scope of commitments, efforts, talents and hope was endless.

But for me the highlight of the weekend was meeting Robin Roberts.  Robin’s poise, compassion and graceful demeanor made her the most eloquent voice in the house.  As Master of Ceremonies, Robin was truly a master!

Robin had been my idol for many years.  Even before she she earned her stripes as a breast cancer survivor, Robin always symbolized for me devotion, hard work, commitment and integrity.  I learned this about Robin while reading her book “From the Heart: Eight Rules to Live By” which speaks directly to her special character.  Her goals, dreams and commitment to self are clearly identified in her candid writing.

As a true leader, Robin led the audience through a very emotional, informative yet hopeful two hour award ceremony.  Robin spoke “from the heart” about her own battle with triple negative breast cancer and how support from Susan G. Komen organization, colleagues, close friends, and strong family helped her to endure her journey through cancer treatment.  Robin’s eloquent plea for advocacy, raising awareness, offering education about early detection and the importance of raising additional funds for more research resonated loud and clear nationally.  Compelling videos clips of cancer survivors emphasized these topics and solidified Robin’s powerful message.  Robin had always been my idol, but after this weekend she is not only my idol but also my hero.

The memory of the weekend would not be complete with out accolades for the lady whose vision became a reality, Nancy Brinker, Founder of Susan G. Komen for the Cure®.  Since 1983, Nancy had created the largest organization for education and fundraising for cancer victims.  This organization has helped millions of women and their families to identify valuable resources  before during and after diagnosis.  Nancy too is a pillar of strength and has made it her primary mission to put cancer at the top of the World Health Organization’s agenda.

I too had an opportunity to share my small part in raising awareness with Barbara Harrison on NBC.  In a short segment I believe that together we were able to disseminate valuable information on advocacy and fertility preservation options for those facing any dreaded cancer diagnosis.

It was definitely an action packed weekend and I am so blessed to have played even a small part of to help promote the cause.  Thank you Joy for your friendship, the sisterhood that has bonded between us, the many opportunities you gave to me including sharing a special morning with your beautiful daughter Jade!

As children and young adults many of us were raised to grow up and become not just well established adults, but moms and dads. It is often a natural progression to graduate school, focus on career, marry and raise a family. Kids are the ultimate goal and accomplishment.

Today however, given the rise in infertility one in five couples today, or 7.3 million Americans struggle with infertility — the biological inability to conceive or carry a pregnancy to full term. Many factors can contribute to this staggering and continually growing statistic. Most common are delayed child bearing, advanced maternal age, medical conditions, sexually transmitted diseases, obesity and environmental factors. As women continue to work and delay having children, their needs with regard to infertility treatment has also continued to grow.

The infertility diagnosis can be devastating and demoralizing. Unable to become pregnant or carry a pregnancy to term, women often feel inadequate, alone and depressed. Infertility treatment is costly and invasive. Success rates are not guaranteed and insurance benefits are often limited. The emotional, physical and financial stressors associated with the infertility process are often challenging and overwhelming.

Age matters in many aspects of life and definitely in the creation of life. Women are most fertile between the ages of 20 to 28 with their fertility decreasing in half by the time they reach 35 years of age. By age 45, only a 1% chance remains each month of conceiving naturally. This is a startling fact considering the average age a woman has her first child has risen to a record high of 25.1 years with 20% of women waiting until they are 35 years old to begin their family.

An increasing number of women choose to delay childbearing due to further schooling, career choice, or are waiting to find their perfect partner. Many individuals are choosing to be single parents. While those choices are understandable and personal, as women naturally age so do their ovaries; affecting their fertility. Oocyte cryopreservation, commonly known as egg banking, generally provides women up to the age of 38 a chance to stop their biological clock and effectively plan and preserve their fertility for the future.

Other treatment options to help overcome infertility include egg donation and surrogacy. Egg donation involves retrieving eggs from a donor between the ages of 21 and 32. Since success rates are linked to the age of the egg, using an egg donor can greatly impact the success rates for pregnancy after in-vitro fertilization treatments. It is most common to use an egg donor in an anonymous arrangement. Legal contracts are necessary to outline the roles of all parties and to have the egg donor relinquish all rights to offspring produced from the treatment cycle.

Surrogacy is another widely available option to help overcome infertility. Over the past decade surrogacy has become more acceptable as the laws in certain states have enabled couples and individuals to establish parentage at birth or shortly thereafter. The most prevalent form of surrogacy today is gestational surrogacy where the surrogate candidate is not biologically related to the offspring.

The pathway to parenthood is not always linear. But understanding the treatment options available will help you to determine your emotional tolerances and physical endurance for exploring treatment and reaching the American dream of becoming a mom and dad.

About Mindy Berkson and Lotus Blossom Consulting

As one of the first infertility consultancies in the United States, Lotus Blossom Consulting, LLC was founded by Mindy Berkson in 2005. With more than a decade of experience at physician’s offices, and egg donor and surrogacy agencies, Berkson assists individuals working through the often-challenging roadblocks of infertility, by providing the best information and resources available to them from around the world – all in one location.

Lotus Blossom Consulting works with individuals on a case-by-case basis, taking into consideration clients’ emotional, physical and financial infertility issues and then develops an individualized, comprehensive plan, to help clients make informed decisions. Mindy is a sought-after infertility expert and has appeared on countless media programs and speaker panels educating audiences on the topic of infertility, egg banking and surrogacy. For more information about Lotus Blossom Consulting, LLC, call toll free (877) 881-2685, email mindy@lotusblossomconsulting.com or visit the web at www.lotusblossomconsulting.com or www.infertilityconsultant.com.

There are countless numbers of products available to women to slow the visible effects of aging, but what about the parts of the body that are out of sight? Now with egg freezing technology it possible to stop a women’s biological clock allowing them to “freeze” their fertility for the future.

Age matters in many aspects of life as well as in the creation of life. Women are most fertile between the ages 20 to 28 with their fertility decreasing in half by the time they are 35. By age 45, only a 1% chance remains each month of conceiving naturally. This is a startling fact considering the average age a woman has her first child has risen to record high of 25.1 with 20% of women waiting until they are 35 to begin their family.

 An increasing number of women choose to delay childbearing due to further schooling, career choice, or are waiting to find their perfect partner. While those choices are understandable and personal, as women naturally age so do their ovaries; affecting their fertility.  Oocyte cryopreservation, commonly known as egg banking, provides women up to the age of 38 with a chance to slow down their biological clock and effectively storing their fertility for the future.

 A women’s egg supply is finite therefore, freezing your eggs allows you to stop your biological clock until you are ready to conceive, increasing the odds of having a healthy successful pregnancy. Women are born with millions of eggs yet once they reach puberty only 300 of the 300,000 eggs left will have the chance to ovulate. The frozen eggs can be thawed at anytime to be fertilized with the sperm of choice and then refrozen as embryos for future in vitro fertilization treatment cycles.

 Egg banking is also an option that is highly recommended for women who have been newly diagnosed with cancer but have not begun medical treatments that may negatively impact their fertility. While treatments such as radiation and chemotherapy are lifesaving, they can potentially leave women infertile.  The ability to freeze viable eggs before undergoing cancer treatments instills hope for a family in the future.

 Egg banking, the newest technology available in the infertility field, is a wonderful option for those women who plan to delay childbearing for personal reasons or for medically induced situations. Since women do not continually reproduce more eggs over a lifetime, the availability of egg banking technology allows women to protect a precious resource and helps to ensure their fertility until such time that they are ready to begin a family.

]]> http://lotusblossomconsulting.com/2009/08/egg-banking-ready-when-you-are/feed/ 0 http://lotusblossomconsulting.com/2009/07/sexually-transmitted-diseases-and-infertility/ http://lotusblossomconsulting.com/2009/07/sexually-transmitted-diseases-and-infertility/#comments Wed, 29 Jul 2009 10:18:32 +0000 Mindy http://www.lotusblossomconsulting.com/?p=419

I saw an interesting article in the Associated Press earlier this week that has prompted me to write this post.  In the article, a Wisconsin doctor claims that the number one public health threat that no one’s talking about is the epidemic of sexually transmitted diseases.  He cited STDs as one of the major causes of infertility and infant mortality.  See article here.  

If you’ve been trying to conceive and haven’t been successful, consider being tested for sexually transmitted diseases.  Many sexually transmitted diseases can lay dormant for years and many women who contract STD’s do not develop visible symptoms and therefore, do not know to seek treatment.

According to the Centers for Disease Control, chlamydia and gonorrhea are the most preventable causes of infertility.  The CDC sites about 2.8 million new cases of chlamydia every year in the United States and  718,000 new cases of gonorrhea.  Over time, these diseases can be silently damaging your ability to have a baby.  These STDs can cause an infection in your reproductive organs, know as pelvic inflammatory disease which can cause scarring of the fallopian tubes and make conception and pregnancy very difficult.

There are several ways to prevent STDs and monitor for them, as follows:

• Always engage in protected sexual intercourse.

• Get tested for STDs regularly.  The CDC recommends routine testing for all women over the age of 25. 

• Learn the symptoms of STDs and seek medical help as soon as possible if any symptoms develop

• Talk with your sexual partners about their sexual health and past sexual activities.

• Delay having sexual relationships as long as possible – the younger a person is when they begin to have sex for the first time, the more susceptible they become to developing an STD

I am so honored to have the opportunity to sponsor a very special film entitled In The Family at the Women’s Resource Fair in Evanston Illinois. This very powerful and moving documentary eloquently displays and affords so many BRCA gene victims with education and information on a topic that is all too often stigmatized and avoided because it is too painful to discuss.

I believe the quote “…information really is a blessing. It’s a source of power.” perfectly depicts your relevant take away message.

I work every day with clients nationwide in your situation. Women who are facing the fear of the unknown, and or the inherent actuality of not being able to deal with the outcome of test results, or worst yet the reality of what options may exist, if any.

These are beautiful women in the prime of their reproductive years who need to know how best to maximize their chances of success while simultaneously increasing their opportunities for biological family building.

It pains me to see women so secretive, ashamed and feeling isolated and alone in this difficult decision making process.

It is my hope that In The Family delivers very powerful and important message to help women become their own best advocates as it relates to their health. Advocacy must start with education, awareness, information, and resources necessary to allow each one of us to make informed medical decisions.

In my experience, part of the decision making process that needs to be incorporated when dealing with test results or deciding whether or not to undergo testing is often influenced by the desire and innate need to have biological offspring. Perhaps if women knew and understood the available options today in the very advanced and technologically savvy world of in-vitro fertilization, the difficult decisions that have to be made, could be lessened by the increase in reproductive opportunities available today for the future.
The newest technology to enter the infertility arena is Egg Banking. This technique allows women to freeze their own biological eggs for use in the future. Egg banking is available to women up to 38 years of age. It is a wonderful new option for those who have put off child bearing for careers, for finding the right partner, and also for those who may have suffered medical diagnosis that could compromise future fertility.
Freezing eggs allows women to avoid having to use an anonymous sperm donor until they are ready to fertilize the eggs, at which time they may have identified a known sperm donor. Another advantage of egg banking is that eggs can be thawed in the future, fertilized with sperm of choice and then refrozen as embryos for future in vitro fertilization treatment cycles. This fast growing and very new technology offers more choices and much more flexibility with fertility treatment options for the future.
If you are interested in more details, I will be sharing in detail this option as well as many others on Saturday March 21st at 3:15 in my presentation entitled Conceivable Options: Exploring Fertility Choices. The Unitarian Church 1330 Ridge Avenue, Evanston, Illinois.