Lattie, Emily G. (2019, February 12) “When Cancer Threatens a Woman’s Fertility” Scientific American, Retrieved from https://blogs.scientificamerican.com/observations/when-cancer-threatens-a-womans-fertility/.

    

    This article starts off by stating the fact that cancer survivors have a lot more on their plate financially than those who never had cancer. Those who do have cancer and go through treatment have their lives turned upside down and sometimes have to make quick choices, such as preserving their fertility. Preserving their fertility can range from a number of different options such as freezing the eggs/sperm, or removing eggs from the uterus to be fertilized elsewhere. These methods are very costly depending on the treatment and do take a toll on someone who is already suffering financially. Emily G. Lattie argues that getting diagnosed with cancer can potentially ruin someone’s chance to start a family, due to the inability of someone getting pregnant while going through treatment, and the high costs of preserving their fertility. Adoption is also another costly alternative to starting a family, private agencies for adoption can cost up to $45000, and sometimes require a note from the doctor saying they are 5 years cancer free. Lattie’s overall message is to spread awareness on the limited options cancer survivors have to start a family.
     Something interesting that I learned in the article is that 45 states don’t require that insurance covers fertility perseverance. Which I find to be ridiculous. The thought that a cancer patient or survivor could afford the costs of any one of the fertility perseverance methods after going through treatment and paying hospital bills isn’t right. Many cancer survivors may choose to go for adoption instead of having a biological child, because any other option is just too expensive. Lattie also brings up her own personal life and discusses how she was lucky enough to be able to give birth without any complications while undergoing treatment. She expresses how at first her and her husband explored the option of adoption and shied away from the idea because of how costly it’d be and later realized that if they decided to go with adoption and later found out about her diagnosis it would’ve been a tough time for them to get through considering how long the adoption process it. The author uses pathos and logos throughout the article by telling her own story and how she’s been through this issue as well, which gives her some credibility.  It helps her audience understand what she went through and how rough others may have it who are going through a much more aggressive diagnosis. The article helps spread awareness on a topic that isn’t talked about very much but needs to be given the platform to be discussed. The author does a good job on presenting the topic and educating the reader on things they might have not known about the difficulties of starting a family as a cancer survivor.