Preserving fertility threatened by cancer
Young women who face cancer may not be able to have children of their own after they beat the disease. But a new egg-freezing technology is helping cancer patients have a family.

Charly Alegria is pregnant again with another little girl is on the way, but this 36-year-old Meridian woman thought she might never be able to have a baby after receiving devastating news. Her young, carefree world came crashing down around her when she learned she would face leukemia.

"I was 20 when I was diagnosed,” says Charly, “I had just registered for college classes, was real excited to get going and went into the doctor after my mom prodded me to do that. I asked him first of all, am I going to survive he said ‘maybe 3 years without a bone marrow transplant.’"

Luckily she didn't have to face it alone. Her 16-year-old sister was a perfect match. But even if she overcame her cancer her fertility would remain in jeopardy.

"Then that question came up, Charly says. “Am I going to be able to have children? And he said that I wouldn't."

Charly's sister, Amy, donated her eggs and made her family possible.

But now women in Charly's position have another option. They can have their eggs cryopreserved to be fertilized and implanted when they are healthy again.

Doctor Russel Foulk, a fertility specialist, is what many would call a miracle worker. Now he has one more technique in his bag of tricks.

"Egg-freezing is very new,” says Dr. Foulk. “Embryo-freezing and sperm-freezing have been going on for decades and it's come up just in the past couple of years that we're able to achieve pregnancies from eggs that had been frozen."

While egg freezing could cost 10,000 dollars or more, it is just one more way to make sure the tragedy of cancer doesn't also make parenthood only a dream.

"It’s so awesome,” says Charly. “You can't describe it to anyone, and the love that you feel."

Binge-eating study in Michiana
The holidays are fast approaching and for many people that means lots of food.

But if overeating is a problem you face year round, there may be some help in Michiana.
The University of Notre Dame is doing a research study on binge-eating and they are looking for people to take part.

You may qualify for the study and free treatment if you:

--Binge on an amount of food in 2 hours that most people would not consume in that time.

--Feel out of control while binge-eating.

--Have been bingeing on an average of twice a week over a six-month period.

--Eat when you are not hungry or until you are uncomfortably full.

If you believe you are a binge-eater and are interested in taking part in the study, you can call Laura Smitham at (574)-631-9640 or send an e-mail to smitham.3@nd.edu.

And to see other criteria for the study you can go to the WDNU homepage and click on the Big Red Bar on the left side of the screen.