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Perth woman’s regret after menopause at 21 brought on by cancer treatment

'I wish I had asked more questions when I was 17.'

Wendy Kay.
Wendy Kay experienced early menopause as a result of cancer treatment. Image: Teenage Cancer Trust

A Perth woman has spoken of her regret after going through early menopause.

Wendy Kay began to stop having periods when she was 21 after commencing cancer treatment four years earlier.

Now 30, she recently announced her engagement to Steven Peddie, 34, who she has been in a relationship with for nine years.

She now worries she may not be able to have children.

“I wish I had asked more questions when I was 17,” said the Scone resident.

“I do remember that the conversation was always aimed at my mum rather than me.”

Perth woman says cancer treatment caused early menopause

Wendy was diagnosed with Hodgkin lymphoma in 2010 when she was 17.

Her cancer treatment included chemotherapy, radiotherapy, and a stem cell and bone marrow transplant.

These can cause early menopause, when ovaries stop making eggs in women under the age of 40.

Wendy.
Wendy endured chemotherapy, radiotherapy,  and a stem cell and bone marrow transplant. Image: Teenage Cancer Trust

Wendy said: “When I was first diagnosed the hospital did talk to me about freezing my eggs, but they said that it would delay my treatment and that I needed to get on with it.

“I decided to just start my chemo and thought: ‘Well at least that will mean that I am here at the end of it’.”

She says her consultant did not mention possible side effects on fertility when she underwent her first stem cell transplant, aged 19.

“For my second stem cell transplant I was transferred to a specialist centre in Glasgow and, before I had it, they did warn me that it could put me into early menopause,” Wendy recalled.

“I had forms which told me about all of the side effects, and it was mentioned on there. I was 21 then, so it hit home more.

“It did send me into early menopause, and I had to start hormone replacement therapy.”

Wendy Kay helped by Teenage Cancer Trust

Teenage Cancer Trust has been instrumental in helping Wendy tackle the situation.

“I went to a session on fertility at one of Teenage Cancer Trust’s Find Your Sense of Tumour weekends,” she said.

“It was run by Dr Allan Pacey, and he was fantastic.

“He reassured me that it’s not the end of the world and there’s a lot they can do scientifically nowadays.”

Perth woman Wendy pictured with fiance Steven Peddie.
Becoming a mother may not be possible for Wendy, pictured with fiance Steven Peddie. Image: Teenage Cancer Trust

Wendy finished treatment in 2015, when she was 22 years old, and has been living with her partner and enjoying everyday life since.

However, she says she still has to manage the long-term effects of cancer treatment to this day.

She said: “I attended a fertility clinic around a year ago and had conversations about egg donation, but I’m in my final year of my social work studies and I would like to get my studies over with first before I think about anything as serious as that.

“I have it in my head that I probably can’t have kids, but I know of people who didn’t think they would be able to have kids and then did.

“I found out that there are tests that I can take to see if my fertility has been affected, and I can come off the hormone replacement therapy to see if I can get pregnant – but it will be a risk.”

Perth woman would have asked more questions

Wendy says she would have asked more questions were she able to go back to when she was 17.

Teenage Cancer Trust would have been a great help when she was 17, Wendy believes. Image: Teenage Cancer Trust

“I wasn’t being treated by Teenage Cancer Trust at that point, and I think that if I was then they would have involved me in the discussions,” she said.

“If you don’t get the news that you want, then at least you know, and you can look into other alternatives.

“I got engaged to my partner recently and there’s a lot of social norms of what is expected of people after marriage with children typically coming next.

“I guess I’m also at an age where many of my friends have had or are having families, which can also be difficult for me to process.

“I am extremely happy for them but also completely aware of my own struggles with fertility and it can be a constant reminder of what I may never get the opportunity to experience.”

Wendy is encouraging people to support Teenage Cancer Trust’s ‘Stop Cancer Destroying Teenage Lives’ campaign.

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