Image source, Erin LaveryImage caption, Erin was diagnosed with Stage 3 Hodgkin's lymphoma in August 2024
- Published1 minute ago
Having life-saving cancer treatment at the age of 21 would be hard enough for anyone. Erin Lavery was told she may never be able to have children too.
She didn't get the chance for egg preservation before starting her treatment.
Now she faces a race against time - and an £8,000 bill - for post-cancer fertility treatment if she is to have a chance of a baby in years to come.
Erin, from Cambuslang near Glasgow, says it's an immense decision for any young woman to have to make about their future.
"It's me having kids or not. It has to happen now," she says.
Erin, now age 23 and cancer-free, is campaigning for NHS egg preservation to be more readily available for those who have come through their treatment.
She told BBC Radio Scotland: "I underwent six months of chemotherapy and a month of radiotherapy, it was really difficult.
"I spent so much time in hospital, something that was at the back of my mind all throughout my treatment was my fertility.
"Unfortunately, after a very long diagnosis process, it was too late for me to preserve my eggs before I began treatment.
"It meant I had to just go ahead and hope for the best on the fertility front."
Image caption, Erin is clear of cancer but faced an "immense decision" over her fertility
Cancer treatments often have side effects and for young women one of the most significant can be reduced fertility.
The main treatments - chemotherapy, radiotherapy, surgery, hormonal therapy and targeted therapy - can affect fertility in different ways.
In many situations the NHS may provide egg freezing and storage for free, but it can typically take up to three weeks.
If cancer treatment needs to begin immediately there may not be enough time to complete this process.
It's the situation Erin found herself when she was diagnosed with Stage 3 Hodgkin's lymphoma in August 2024.
Image source, Erin LaveryImage caption, Erin documented her cancer treatment in hospital to help other young people
She says: "I was unwell for a year-and-a-half and was consistently going to my GP for a year with symptoms that were adding up by the minute
"Unfortunately, it took all that time to get the diagnosis.
"It's a frustrating one, because if they were able to diagnose me when I first started going it would be such a different situation to what we are now in.
"I would have had the time to preserve my eggs at that point."
Depending on how their fertility is affected, women may still be able to preserve their eggs after recovering from cancer.
Life-changing decision
A year after completing her cancer treatment, tests confirmed Erin's fertility fears. She had no time to waste.
She found herself having to make a life-changing decision about what her future family could be.
"I found out that my fertility had been heavily, heavily affected," she says.
"A specialist told me that if I wanted to have kids I would need to preserve my eggs right now.
"I'm someone who's always wanted kids, but I think that's something that you think will happen naturally in the future.
Image source, Erin LaveryImage caption, Erin celebrates a year of being cancer-free
Nail technician Erin, who missed two years of work during her cancer treatment, also has to take on the significant costs involved.
"It's also coming with a financial burden that if I choose to do this, it's going to impact my near future
"It's £8,000 to do this procedure that I'm going to need to fund myself.
"The way it works is you can have multiple cycles to get the best outcome, I will need two cycles to get the correct amount eggs.
"If I'd received it before the NHS would have funded it, but because now I've had cancer treatment they will not fund it.
"I've always worked really hard and thought I would be at a different point in life financially now.
"After being off work to be hit with a cost like this wasn't even on my radar.
"It's been a massive shock and the stress that came with it has been huge."
Image source, Erin LaveryImage caption, Erin says she is learning as she goes along as a campaigner
While Erin was in hospital, she had posted on TikTok about her treatment and recovery.
She built a large community of followers who she wanted to help by documenting her own experience.
Erin says when she posted about her costly decision over fertility treatment, she got thousands of comments from people who "can't believe this is even a thing".
She never expected to find herself campaigning to raise awareness among young women.
"I'm a bit lost with it," she admits. "It's not something that I ever thought I would be doing.
"Maybe nobody's looked at this? Maybe nobody's thought this is a problem?
"It's about learning the procedures to go through to try and get a little bit of change.
Strength and resilience
The Scottish government says it is sympathetic to Erin's campaign and will shortly outline a review of fertility services.
Public Health Minister Maree Todd said: "I greatly admire the strength and resilience shown by Erin as she has documented her cancer journey online.
"I thank her for the sharing her personal experience and the work she is doing to advocate for more support for cancer survivors.
"Guidance on fertility preservation has been developed by clinical experts and makes clear that special consideration by health boards should be done on a case-by-case basis, to cover the whole range of possible conditions and individual circumstances where fertility preservation might be considered."
