Defiance, Ohio. When you’re 18, it’s hard to imagine planning for your future family and having to take your fertility seriously, but that’s the situation one young woman named Julia now finds herself in.
Julia Volpe is an 18-year-old girl who needs to undergo IVF immediately due to the fact that she was recently diagnosed with Hodgkin’s Lymphoma late last month.
Julia is starting chemotherapy on December 20th to begin treating her cancer, but before she begins chemo, her doctors want her to undergo IVF to preserve her fertility.
“Chemotherapy (especially alkylating agents) can affect the ovaries, causing them to stop releasing eggs and estrogen,” the National Cancer Institute explained.
“This is called primary ovarian insufficiency (POI). Sometimes POI is temporary and your menstrual periods and fertility return after treatment.”
“Other times, damage to your ovaries is permanent and fertility doesn’t return.”
As for Julia, her oncologist sat her down and said that there is a chance that she will never be able to have kids after undergoing chemotherapy later this month.
Her oncologist recommended undergoing IVF to freeze her eggs.
GoFundMe; pictured above is Julia
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“I want to protect my fertility as well, really really badly,” Julia explained on a GoFundMe page.
“I’m only 18 and this is such a confusing and stressful time to have to think about fertility and cancer and everything that comes with that.”
“The IVF facility my oncologist referred me said they need an upfront payment of $1,500 for all the labs and tests, also upfront $250 to talk to the fertility doctor.”
All in, it’s going to cost Julia approximately $5,000 to freeze her eggs, and she really needs help to cover those costs so she can grow up to have a family of her own.
Unfortunately, insurance does not cover this at all, which is why Julia created a GoFundMe.
If you would like to donate to Julia’s GoFundMe page, you can do that here.