Breast Cancer Survivor Attributes Cancer to Fertility Treatments

By Jenna Rehnstrom, Anchor

jrehnstrom@kcautv.com

There’s long been debate over fertility drugs and if they could increase a woman’s risk for breast cancer. A new study found that women who used fertility drugs and got pregnant had a small increased risk of breast cancer.

Experts say it could be due to elevated production of ovarian hormones that alter breast tissue. 

Sandra Mueller of Sioux City attributes her bout with breast cancer to fertility treatments.

She’s like many moms: she’s busy and life is sometimes hectic, but Sandra’s greatest joy is spending time with her four year old son, Logan.

Still there was a time when Sandra and her husband, Rex, weren’t sure if they’d get to experience parenthood. They wanted a child so badly, they went through four grueling years of fertility treatments.

“We just knew that if we wanted this to happen – at the time, we thought ‘we have to do this’, because this is the only way it’s going to happen. It’s a very emotional process and the desire to be a parent is so great that you want to try and do what you can to make it happen,” Sandra says.

After eight rounds of invetro fertilization and countless shots, Sandra’s body wasn’t responding like they’d hope.Worse yet, the treatments were making her sick.

And when she and her husband finally decided to stop, there came more bad news: Sandra had breast cancer.

“I just kept thinking… because I didn’t know, initially, what the prognosis was going to be and I thought, I’m never going to get to be a [mom].”

Sandra chose to have a bi–lateral mastectomy. And, because the cancer was found so early, she didn’t need chemotherapy or radiation. But, Sandra suspects it was those fertility treatments that were behind the breast cancer.

“There was no other connection that I could make and I had done some research on my own. We have history of cancer in the family, but we’ve never had anybody with breast cancer,” she says.

Now a breast cancer survivor, it’s clear Sandra and Rex have had their prayers answered. They became parents in 2007, when they adopted their son, Logan.

“He’s just been the center of our world ever since and he is everything and then some and we were meant to be – we were all meant to be together,” Sandra comments.

And does she regret the trials that brought her here? No.So, her advice to other women, maybe isn’t surprising.

“I would never tell a woman: ‘don’t do fertility treatments,’ I would never tell somebody that – I would just want to say, ‘ask questions – find out about what your body’s going to be going through,” she says.

And, through it all, Sandra’s faith helped her believe this day would come. And boy, was it worth the wait.

“Being a mom has just been the most wonderful blessing and I am so grateful that I have been able to experience it.”