From 4,000 Miles Cycled to 2 IVF Cycles: Texas Fertility Center Helps Chris Condit Reach His Goal of Fatherhood
Austin, TX (PRWEB) March 18, 2014 -- Doctors diagnosed Chris Condit with stage 3 Hodgkin’s lymphoma when he turned 11 years old, in an era before fertility preservation was offered to cancer patients. His focus was on treatment and recovery, not becoming a father. Chemotherapy and radiation therapies save and extend life, but can destroy future fertility. Years later, Chris and his wife Mandy turned to Texas Fertility Center for help in starting a family.
“Fertility testing confirmed that Chris’ cancer treatment had negatively impacted his sperm count and sperm motility, and that Chris and Mandy could benefit from assisted reproductive technologies,” says Dr. Kaylen Silverberg. “We knew that for Chris, founder of the Texas 4000 for Cancer bike race from Austin to Anchorage, male fertility treatment was just a bump in the road to fatherhood that he would overcome.”
Chris and Mandy had been married for two years, and were excited to start to build a family. “I didn’t give a thought to whether my cancer treatment would have impacted fertility,” Chris said. “After trying unsuccessfully to get pregnant for almost a year, we had some good friends recommend that we explore treatment at TFC.”
A leading-edge fertility treatment called intracytoplasmic sperm injection, or ICSI, would ultimately lead to the birth of the Condit’s first baby. Two-year-old Raquel will become a big sister soon, because the Condits recently concluded a second round of successful male fertility treatment at TFC. As a result, Mandy is pregnant again.
Male Fertility Treatment and ICSI
One of the most significant advances in male fertility treatment – ICSI - helps men like Chris start a family despite a low sperm count. ICSI, short for intracytoplasmic sperm injection, is an IVF lab technique for men with severe male factor infertility.
Men with normal fertility potential have at least 20 million sperm per milliliter of semen, some men facing male infertility have far fewer. With ICSI, a single sperm is injected directly into each egg that is obtained during the IVF process. This procedure enables men with incredibly low sperm counts – even fewer than 10 total sperm – to conceive a healthy child. ”Our embryologists employ the latest technology in our state-of-the-art IVF laboratory, allowing us to help even the most challenging cases reach a successful outcome,” Dr. Silverberg said.
Fertility Rescue Restores Hope
When Chris was undergoing cancer treatment, banking sperm prior to chemotherapy and radiation was not a common practice. Today, his fertility plan would be more proactive and include cryopreservation.
Fertility rescue refers to the process of retrieving and cryopreserving, or freezing, reproductive materials, including sperm, eggs and embryos, prior to cancer treatment.
The Truth about Male Infertility
Contrary to popular belief, male factor infertility is the cause of 50 percent of all cases of infertility. Therefore, a complete fertility evaluation must include a comprehensive evaluation of the male partner. TFC offers a full service fertility practice – caring for both women and men.
During the month of March, TFC offers education about male infertility with a March Dadness campaign. “Although advanced treatment (IVF) was required in Chris’ situation, most cases of male factor can be successfully treated without surgery or in vitro fertilization,” Dr. Silverberg added. “March Dadness is an important part of our efforts to help men understand their fertility and offer options for fatherhood.”
Chris says that the experience at TFC was truly first rate.
“Dr. Silverberg and his staff were incredibly professional, knowledgeable and kind. Not only are they on the cutting edge of this amazing procedure, but they worked hard to keep us comfortable and informed throughout the process. Most importantly, both of our IVF rounds with Dr. Silverberg have resulted in pregnancy. As a guy, male infertility is a tough issue to face, but the results are more than worth it!”
About Texas Fertility Center
Texas Fertility Center (TFC), one of the nation’s leading full-service infertility practices, provides advanced Infertility and Reproductive Endocrinology services to patients throughout Texas, the Southwestern United States, and the Americas. Since 1980, TFC has been recognized nationally for outstanding pregnancy rates, cutting-edge laboratory procedures, and innovative research programs. For more information, please visit http://www.txfertility.com.
Amy Hall, Texas Fertility Center, http://www.txfertility.com, +1 (214) 893-8214, [email protected]
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