6 days ago
Youngest non-cancer egg freezing patient's warning to women on fertility
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Lisa Hollinshead, who faced a terrifying health situation that led her to freeze her eggs at just 22, says we need more awareness about infertility.
Now aged 40 and living in Sydney, she became the youngest non-cancer patient to undergo the procedure while living in the UK in 2007.
Ms Hollinshead is sharing her story ahead of a special must-watch online conversation, called Fertility Unpacked.
It will include a panel of top experts and people with lived experience with IVF discussion the huge emotional, financial and physcial toll of IVF, along with useful tips and information about medical research.
Ms Hollinshead said she was about to leave home on the trip of a lifetime to Australia when she was told she had a rugby-ball sized dermoid cyst attached to her right ovary and another the size of a newborn's head on her left.
She received emergency surgery.
Distraught over missing her trip Down Under, she said learning she was at a high risk of infertility added more shock to the situation.
'I went on the operating table not knowing if they would be able to salvage any of my ovarian tissue or fallopian tube,' she said.
Lisa Hollinshead froze her eggs at 22. She's now 40. Picture: Sam Ruttyn
Surgeons removed one ovary and one fallopian but warned there was a possibility the cysts could return, which would have forced them to remove an additional portion, leaving her completely infertile.
'Obviously for a 21-year-old who was in a six year long relationship, that was quite daunting,' she said.
Planning to undergo embryo freezing with her long-term partner, she was at a loss when the relationship suddenly ended a week before treatment.
Fortunately, she was approved to get her eggs frozen, despite being only 22 at the time.
Ms Hollinshead said she knew each egg wasn't a guarantee but was thankful for the hope they gave her.
'It certainly didn't feel like an insurance policy, but I felt very grateful I'd at least been given hope, had I lost my last bit of an ovary,' she said.
In Australia, women wanting to undergo egg freezing only get a rebate if they have a fertility issue such as endometriosis or need to undergo chemotherapy for cancer.
However those doing it for social reasons must pay about $12,000 to get it done.
It is not recommended people undergo egg freezing in their early 20s due to risks such as Ovarian hyperstimulation syndrome and the fact many won't need to.
However, board member of the Fertility Society of Australia and New Zealand, Manuela Toledo said many women waited too long.
Lisa Hollinshead with her son Albie Moore. Picture: Sam Ruttyn
'While we can freeze eggs in the late 30s or early 40s we just don't get the numbers and the quality to justify it,' Dr Toledo said.
'The cost factor is the main reason a lot of women are either not freezing their eggs or are delaying egg freezing.'
Having received no education on fertility or assisted reproductive technologies in school, Ms Hollinshead had limited knowledge before going through her situation.
After giving birth to her son Albie naturally – despite all odds – she hoped he would receive better fertility and sex education through the school system.
She backed calls from Olympia Valance in a special must-watch, online conversation to have more awareness about infertility taught in schools.
Lisa Hollinshead says she supports there being more education about fertility in schools. Picture: Sam Ruttyn
'The current system is archaic and it does not reflect modern lifestyles in any facet, whether it's finances, reproductive health or sexual education,' she said.
'I definitely feel it should be updated to reflect what is available and to equip girls and boys with the knowledge of what the very real reality could be for them, especially with the rates of fertility declining across the board.'
Originally published as Lisa Hollinshead shares fertility battle that led her to freeze eggs at 22
