From Publishers Weekly
Shaw, a health and medical writer, breast cancer survivor, and mother of three, focuses on both practical and personal matters in this accessible, comprehensive look at becoming a parent after cancer. Diagnosed with breast cancer at the age of 36 and wary of pregnancy when her treatments ended, Shaw adopted a child, but later gave birth to two more. She maintains that while cancer treatment can put fertility at risk, damaging sperm and/or eggs, there is no reason why the disease should close the door to future parenthood. And while both cancer itself and treatments such as chemotherapy and radiation may cause fertility problems ranging from premature menopause to damaged DNA, there are many available solutions. The author urges couples to talk to their physicians about fertility issues as soon as possible, and walks readers through such options as egg, embryo, and ovarian tissue freezing for women and sperm banking for men. She maintains that the odds of getting one's fertility back after cancer may be better than expected, but helpfully also covers such alternatives as egg donors, surrogacy, and adoption. This is an invaluable guidebook for couples journeying into parenthood after cancer. (Feb.)
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Review
“Gina M. Shaw’s new book is a welcome addition to my cancer book library. ...’Be My Baby’ is a forty-seven page chapter on cancer and adoption--one of the most in-depth sources I’ve read on the subject. Like the rest of her book, it is laden with straight-up, indispensable information for both men and women facing cancer and planning a family. ...A writer after my own heart, Gina gives readers a serious education on the legal, financial, medical, and administrative side of family planning. ...Whether you are recently diagnosed, a childhood cancer survivor, or just out of treatment, Having Children After Cancer is the family planning go-to-book.”
—Kairol Rosenthal, author of Everything Changes: The Insider’s Guide to Cancer in Your 20s and 30s, 2/7/11
“an invaluable guidebook for couples journeying into parenthood after cancer.”
—Publishers Weekly, 1/3/11
“Practical and helpful, this is recommended for cancer survivors and others facing fertility issues.”
—Library Journal, 1/1/11
“This is the book that thousands of cancer survivors have been waiting for. As treatments improve, more and more survivors are thinking about having families, and this book fills the information gap between what they’re told and what they need to know. If you've been touched by cancer as a patient, caregiver, or loved one, this book is for you.”
—Lynn Westphal, MD, associate professor, Stanford School of Medicine
From the Trade Paperback edition.
About the Author
GINA SHAW, a health and medical writer, was newly married and trying for a baby when—at age thirty-six—she was diagnosed with breast cancer. Now, seven years later, she’s a survivor and proud mother of three children, both adopted and biological. Gina chronicled her journey through breast cancer for Redbook in a five-part diary series. She won the Society of Professional Journalists’ award for a WebMD series and the Association of Women in Communications’ Clarion Award for another Redbook series, “The Fertility Diaries.” Her articles have also been published by Ladies’ Home Journal, Fitness, and Woman’s Day. She lives with her husband and children in Montclair, New Jersey.
