{"id":1353,"date":"2026-08-17T22:32:41","date_gmt":"2026-08-17T22:32:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/myhealtho.com\/news\/erin-survived-cancer-aged-21-now-its-a-race-against-time-for-a-chance-of-a-baby\/"},"modified":"2026-08-17T22:32:41","modified_gmt":"2026-08-17T22:32:41","slug":"erin-survived-cancer-aged-21-now-its-a-race-against-time-for-a-chance-of-a-baby","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/myhealtho.com\/news\/erin-survived-cancer-aged-21-now-its-a-race-against-time-for-a-chance-of-a-baby\/","title":{"rendered":"Erin survived cancer aged 21 – now it’s a race against time for a chance of a baby"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Erin<\/figure>\n
\"Erin<\/figure>\n
\"Erin<\/figure>\n
\"Erin<\/figure>\n
\"Erin<\/figure>\n
\"Erin<\/figure>\n
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\"Erin<\/figure>\n

At just 21, Erin Lavery faced the fight of her life against cancer. But even after overcoming the disease, she now confronts a new and deeply personal battle\u2014one that carries an \u00a38,000 price tag and a ticking clock. For Erin, the question isn’t just about survival anymore; it’s about whether she’ll ever have the chance to become a mother.<\/p>\n

Erin, now 23 and cancer-free, didn’t have the opportunity to freeze her eggs before starting treatment. Her diagnosis came too late for that crucial step. Now, she’s in a race against time, trying to preserve her fertility after the fact\u2014and she’s calling for change so other young women don’t face the same heartbreaking dilemma.<\/p>\n

“It’s me having kids or not. It has to happen now,” she says, her voice carrying the weight of a decision no one should have to make under such pressure.<\/p>\n

A Diagnosis That Changed Everything<\/h2>\n

Erin’s journey began long before the cancer diagnosis. For a year and a half, she was unwell, visiting her GP repeatedly with symptoms that kept mounting. But answers were slow to come.<\/p>\n

“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,” she recalls. “Unfortunately, it took all that time to get the diagnosis.”<\/p>\n

In August 2024, the news finally arrived: Stage 3 Hodgkin’s lymphoma. The shock was immense, but so was the urgency. Her treatment\u2014six months of chemotherapy and a month of radiotherapy\u2014couldn’t wait. And that meant there was no time for egg preservation.<\/p>\n

“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,” Erin explains. “I would have had the time to preserve my eggs at that point.”<\/p>\n

The delay in diagnosis didn’t just affect her health; it set off a chain reaction that now threatens her future family plans.<\/p>\n

The Hidden Cost of Cancer Treatment<\/h3>\n

Cancer treatments save lives, but they often come with side effects that extend far beyond the immediate battle. For young women, one of the most significant can be reduced fertility. Chemotherapy, radiotherapy, surgery, hormonal therapy, and targeted therapies can all impact fertility in different ways.<\/p>\n

In many cases, the NHS offers free egg freezing and storage\u2014but it can take up to three weeks to complete the process. When cancer treatment needs to begin immediately, that window can close before it even opens.<\/p>\n

That was exactly Erin’s situation. She went into treatment hoping for the best on the fertility front, but the uncertainty weighed on her throughout.<\/p>\n

“I underwent six months of chemotherapy and a month of radiotherapy, it was really difficult,” she told BBC Radio Scotland. “I spent so much time in hospital. Something that was at the back of my mind all throughout my treatment was my fertility.”<\/p>\n

A Year Later: The Devastating News<\/h2>\n

A year after completing her treatment, Erin got the confirmation she’d feared. Tests showed her fertility had been “heavily, heavily affected.” The news was a second blow, almost as hard to process as the cancer itself.<\/p>\n

“A specialist told me that if I wanted to have kids, I would need to preserve my eggs right now,” she says.<\/p>\n

For Erin, who has always dreamed of having children, the decision was immediate\u2014but the path forward was fraught with obstacles.<\/p>\n

“I’m someone who’s always wanted kids, but I think that’s something that you think will happen naturally in the future,” she reflects. Now, that natural future was no longer guaranteed. It was a life-changing decision, made under immense pressure.<\/p>\n

The Financial Burden<\/h3>\n

Adding to the emotional strain is the financial reality. Erin, a nail technician from Cambuslang near Glasgow, missed two years of work during her cancer treatment. Now, she faces a bill of \u00a38,000 for post-cancer fertility treatment\u2014and that’s just for one cycle.<\/p>\n

“It’s also coming with a financial burden that if I choose to do this, it’s going to impact my near future,” she says. “It’s \u00a38,000 to do this procedure that I’m going to need to fund myself.”<\/p>\n

To get the best outcome, Erin will likely need two cycles to retrieve the correct number of eggs. That doubles the cost\u2014and the stress.<\/p>\n

“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 of eggs,” she explains.<\/p>\n

The irony isn’t lost on her. If she’d been able to preserve her eggs before treatment, the NHS would have funded it. But because she’s now a cancer survivor, that support is no longer available.<\/p>\n

“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,” Erin says.<\/p>\n

“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.”<\/p>\n

Finding Her Voice as a Campaigner<\/h2>\n

Erin never set out to become an advocate. But during her time in hospital, she started documenting her treatment and recovery on TikTok, building a large community of followers who found comfort and guidance in her posts.<\/p>\n

When she shared her fertility dilemma, the response was overwhelming.<\/p>\n

“I got thousands of comments from people who can’t believe this is even a thing,” she says.<\/p>\n

That outpouring of support and disbelief sparked something in Erin. She realized that this wasn’t just her problem\u2014it was a systemic issue that needed attention.<\/p>\n

“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?”<\/p>\n

Now, she’s determined to raise awareness and push for change, learning as she goes along.<\/p>\n

“It’s about learning the procedures to go through to try and get a little bit of change,” she says.<\/p>\n

Strength and Resilience<\/h3>\n

Erin’s campaign has caught the attention of policymakers. The Scottish government says it is sympathetic to her cause and will shortly outline a review of fertility services.<\/p>\n

Public Health Minister Maree Todd praised Erin’s efforts, saying: “I greatly admire the strength and resilience shown by Erin as she has documented her cancer journey online. I thank her for sharing her personal experience and the work she is doing to advocate for more support for cancer survivors.”<\/p>\n

Todd added that guidance on fertility preservation has been developed by clinical experts, making clear that special consideration by health boards should be done on a case-by-case basis, covering the whole range of possible conditions and individual circumstances where fertility preservation might be considered.<\/p>\n

For Erin, this acknowledgment is a start\u2014but she knows there’s still a long road ahead. Her own future remains uncertain, but her fight is no longer just about herself. It’s about ensuring that no other young woman has to face the same impossible choice.<\/p>\n

“It’s me having kids or not. It has to happen now,” she repeats, a mantra of urgency and hope.<\/p>\n

As she navigates this next chapter, Erin is learning that strength isn’t just about surviving cancer\u2014it’s about fighting for the life you want after it.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

At just 21, Erin Lavery faced the fight of her life against cancer. But even after overcoming the disease, she now confronts a new and deeply personal battle\u2014one that carries an \u00a38,000 price tag and a ticking clock. For Erin, the question isn’t just about survival anymore; it’s about whether she’ll ever have the chance…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1345,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1353","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-blog"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/myhealtho.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1353","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/myhealtho.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/myhealtho.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/myhealtho.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/myhealtho.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1353"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/myhealtho.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1353\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/myhealtho.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1345"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/myhealtho.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1353"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/myhealtho.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1353"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/myhealtho.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1353"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}