Cancer Treatment Options Forum - March 8th, 2011 - 2 Comments
Can someone who had brain cancer at age 13 and received radiation therapy for it still have kids as an adult?
My boyfriend and I have been together for almost 9 months now. Things are going very well, we seem to be close. He had brain cancer around age 13 and received radiation therapy to get rid of it. Could this affect his ability to have kids now? He has used the pull out method with every one of his girlfriends whether or not they were on the pill. He’s 37 and hasn’t gotten anyone pregnant yet, doesn’t it seem like he should have gotten someone pregnant by now? We have talked about it and he thinks he has good sperm. Would it be right of me to ask him to get his sperm checked? I would still want to be with him even if his sperm had problems it would just be nice to know.
It is likely that he just had radiation on his head, since that is where his cancer was. In that case, it is likely that he indeed is fertile. Considering how hard some women work to GET pregnant, and that some of the women he was with WERE on the pill, and you don’t know if it was their fertile time etc… I’d not use his lack of children to say he is sterile. It is a relatively easy test to have done for him though and it would be nice knowing either way. If he did have TBI (total body irradiation) instead of just focused on his head, then it is much more likely that he is sterile. But, even then, there have been some cases of people who maintained their fertility even with TBI. Good Luck!
I don’t know the answer but my opinion would be "yes" you could have children together. It wouldn’t hurt to see a doctor for sperm testing….who knows….it might not be him having the problem. Sorry to say but it wouldn’t hurt to check it out. I wish you both the best of health and luck and let us know when You’re with child.