Fertility Blog

Pie: Good. Pie for charity? Delicious! Learn how Illume Fertility's Dr. Ilana Ressler is helping raise awareness for breast and ovarian cancer while supporting the Westchester, NY community this upcoming holiday season.

Up to 40% of people will at some point receive a cancer diagnosis, and we can all see and feel its effects in our families and across our communities. When you're facing cancer but still dream of having children in the future, what are your options? Let's explore them together.

During the month of November, you may see some men growing out beards and mustaches in support of "Movember." What exactly is it, and what does the cause raise awareness for?

When a hopeful parent is told they may never be able to have children, what comes next? One couple opens up about their journey through a shocking cancer diagnosis, their decision to pursue fertility preservation prior to cancer treatment, how they chose surrogacy, and everything else they went through to bring their baby girl into the world.

Being diagnosed with cancer is difficult for anyone, but it can be especially devastating for patients who are young and still looking forward to having children. While some cancers are highly treatable, the treatments needed often impact the survivor's future fertility. In this story, we meet Ross and his wife Jackie, who share their experience with oncofertility preservation, fertility treatment and building their family.

When it comes to the language of fertility, we have to admit – a lot of the lingo tends to favor the ladies’ side of the equation. From AMH levels, to basal body temperature, to cycles, moms-to-be have a whole list of ABCs to learn as they go through treatment.

The following commentary is based on a nation-wide study published in October 2019 by Oxford University Press A group of researchers wanted to assess the validity of an ongoing speculation with assisted reproductive treatment (ART) – that hormone stimulation increased a woman’s risk for ovarian cancer. This study ultimately confirmed the belief that ART does not increase cancer risk, except for patients with endometriosis. However, there needs to be more research to prove the latter - the increased risk of ovarian cancer in IVF patients with endometriosis might be because of the diagnosis, not because of the added element of hormone stimulation. More on that below. But first, a message from our very own Dr. Joshua Hurwitz: