My satisfaction with delaying chemotherapy to bank sperm

It did push chemo back about a week and a half. That’s true. Cancer is still growing, still spreading during that time. My oncologist looked at me and said “Look, it’s not going to make that much of a difference—two weeks, one week—it’s not going to make that much of a difference in the big picture of beating this cancer.” So I felt real comfortable that it was OK to push it back a week, week and a half. But of course, I asked that question, because as soon as you get diagnosed, they cut the testicle out. Like it’s game time, the ref blew the whistle, you want to play, you want to put your shoulder down, you want to swing at this thing. That’s me. That’s my mentality. You don’t want to wait. The sooner I start chemo, the sooner I can be done. The sooner I can attack it, get it earlier before it continues to spread.

That’s my mentality, but after talking to the doctors, I felt very comfortable that it was OK. And that it was worth it, that the benefits totally outweighed the risks. The benefits of banking sperm—it did delay everything a good week and a half, two weeks. I forget that because it all happened so fast, but otherwise, after the surgery you can start chemo that afternoon. You could do it the same day. The only reason you don’t is because you’re banking sperm. I am definitely happy. I’m still single. I’m 32, not thinking about kids yet. I can still say in this position I’m really happy I did it. Knowing that you have a safety valve, knowing that regardless whether you’re sterile or not, knowing that you have that option, I am 100% happy with the decision I made. I have thanked my parents several times for helping me make that decision.

Fortunately I did find out about a year ago, not because I’m ready for it but because we have a close doctor that’s a fertility doctor who sends us a lot of cancer fighters and survivors at Imerman Angels. I’ve gotten to know him very well through people that we’ve helped and he said, “Look, why don’t you just come in and get tested?” He said, “Just come in. I’ll take care of you, just come in.” And I didn’t really plan on doing it but then he brought it up a couple of times and I said, “You know what? OK, I’ll come in.” And I did find out that I actually am able to have children. I am in that 50% that can have kids, which is wonderful. Still, we keep the frozen sperm back in Michigan. I still keep them anyway, regardless. But, regardless of anything, I’m still glad that I did it and I still keep the samples. You pay $300 a year or something like that to keep them, so there is a cost associated, but to me, it’s still worth it. Just in the case there’s been a lot of trauma in this area, you don’t really know what could happen, even