The last thing Cindy DelGiorno expected six weeks before her wedding was to find out that she had breast cancer. Suddenly she had more than RSVPs and seating arrangements to worry about. What's more, her lumpectomy was scheduled a few weeks later landing right before her big day. "It was a silly thing to focus on but I had a strapless wedding gown so you could see my scars," Cindy says, now laughing off the unnecessary stress that caused. But, Cindy and her now-husband Gordon did not let anything get in the way of their wedding day, or their happily ever after.
Like many soon-to-be brides, she had thought often about starting a family, and now she didn't know if that would be possible, "I remember sobbing in Dr. Fox's office thinking that it wasn't going to happen for us. That was more devastating than the words 'you have cancer,'" Cindy recalls. But there was hope. Cindy's oncologist, Kevin Fox, MD, directed Cindy to Penn's Fertility Preservation Program (PFPP) to explore their options. "Dr. Fox treated me like a family member. He knew I felt like my options were taken from me — and he gave me those possibilities back," shares Cindy.
Shortly after walking down the aisle, and before her chemotherapy began, Cindy had her first round of embryo cryopreservation. "We always talked about kids, but when we found out I had cancer and was going to getting chemo it was all of a sudden the most important thing to us," Cindy says, "I spent all of my 20's avoiding getting pregnant. Now here I was 34, married to the love of my life, and all I could think about was babies."
In March 2011, Cindy gave birth to a beautiful, healthy baby girl via In vitro fertilization of her preserved embryos. Cindy and Gordon named their daughter Liorah, meaning bringer of light. In 2012, Cindy and Gordon decided they wanted a sibling for Liorah.
However, this time proved even more challenging than the first. At age 41, having gone through chemotherapy, having had several miscarriages, and then exhausting all embryos, she was told that she had less than 1% chance of getting pregnant.
Cindy tried everything from wheatgrass shakes to vision boards and everything in between. But, she knew she needed the help of Clarisa Gracia, MD, PFPP Director, now more than ever. "Dr. Gracia listened and she never gave up on me – even when everyone else had. She wouldn't stop trying as long as I didn't," Cindy says.
In 2014, Cindy and Gordon had a second child, a son named Ari, meaning Lion, "My mom kept saying 'it only takes one golden egg and that was Ari - he truly is our miracle baby," Cindy says. Today, Liorah and Ari are an example of the options available to all of our patients at the ACC through the Penn Fertility Preservation Program.