The Chick Mission

What if surviving cancer meant losing your chance to become a parent? For thousands of young cancer patients, fertility becomes an urgent, unexpected priority. A diagnosis suddenly transforms a distant dream of parenthood into an immediate, critical decision—often with a narrow window to preserve eggs before treatment begins. Although cancer rates in young women are rising, the healthcare system has remained woefully unprepared. In fact, less than half of young women with breast cancer receive counseling about preserving their fertility. Yet out of this challenging landscape emerged a remarkable story of resilience: cancer survivors became the architects of change, transforming fertility preservation from an experimental afterthought to a critical component of comprehensive care. Advocates like Lindsay Beck fundamentally reshaped medical guidelines, coining the term "oncofertility" and persuading the National Cancer Institute to create an Office of Survivorship. And organizations like The Chick Mission have taken this advocacy further, pushing 18 states to mandate insurance coverage for oncofertility treatments. In many ways, the advocacy of cancer survivors provides a blueprint for how we can extend fertility coverage to people everywhere. At Maven, we're committed to a vision of healthcare that sees patients as whole people—with dreams, futures, and the right to choose their path to parenthood. Learn more about oncofertility in our Chief Medical Officer Dr. Neel Shah's newsletter, The Preprint: https://lnkd.in/gSSHzK7F #oncofertility #fertilitycare #healthcare

In 1999 Lindsay Beck was diagnosed with an aggressive tongue cancer. She was just 22 and her doctors wanted to talk about lifesaving treatment immediately: radiation; surgery; chemo. Lindsay wanted to talk about other, equally-urgent things. What would this mean for the life she envisioned? How would she ever kiss her future husband? How could she have kids some day? At the time, medicine didn’t have great answers. Egg freezing was strictly experimental. Her doctors were trying to save her life, but she was trying to save the things she was certain would give her life meaning. Thanks to the efforts of advocates like Lindsay, Amanda Rice of The Chick Mission, and others, today a "whisper network" of doctors work closely and mostly by word-of-mouth to fit these patients into schedules, pass them discounted medication, and make the most of two treatments (cancer, and fertility) where time is of the utmost essence. Good will is appreciated but given the stakes, better systems are strongly preferred. In 2006, only 26% of young women with breast cancer reported they were counseled about their fertility options. In 2023, that number was 41%—better, but far from ideal--at present, cancer incidence is actually increasing in women of reproductive age. Today 22 states plus the District of Columbia have passed some kind of law requiring private health insurers to cover fertility care. What most of these states have in common is that before they protected anything else, they protected egg freezing for cancer patients. In many ways, the advocacy of cancer survivors provides a blueprint for how we can extend fertility coverage to all people everywhere. I dove deep into that fight, consulting expert REIs at our clinic partners like Pietro Bortoletto at Boston IVF, as well as digital health innovators like Rebecca Miksad, MD, MMS, MPH at Color. I hope you’ll give it a read, and share widely! https://lnkd.in/eH_GQzt9

I didn’t grow up in the "women can do it all" era. In fact, during my most formative years as a woman (20s and 30s), I was fed a slightly revised version of that idea: Women can do it all, just not at the same time. This notion was championed by incredibly successful women at some of the biggest companies in the world. It was reinforced in media interviews, at events, and even on graduation stages. The message was clear: if you were excelling in one area of your life, like motherhood, you were inevitably falling short in another, like your career. And I believed it, preached it, and internalized it. I internalized the idea that if I was thriving at work, I must be failing as a friend. If I was deeply engaged in my volunteer work, I must be falling short as a mother. But last week, something shifted for me. Last week, I: ?? Worked Monday through Friday to build Tipt Ventures. We had some great meetings and some less than great meetings. ?? Advocated for The Chick Mission at the Georgia State Senate, helping move Bill 94 forward to support women (and men!) diagnosed with Lupus, Cancer, or Sickle Cell in preserving their ability to have a family. We passed the first step but this one of many. ?? Baked a cake for my son’s 2nd birthday. It was a box cake but I made it custom in my own way. ?? ??♀? Spoke on a panel and met with high school girls from my alma mater, The Westminster Schools, for National Women and Girls in Sports Day (thanks, Shannon Soares!) I took a little too long on my introduction and might have scared the girls a little about the importance of financial literacy. ?? Hosted my in-laws and got to see them visit with their child and my children. I also used them as babysitters while I shopped for birthday presents 24 hrs before said birthday. ???? Helped my mom recover from knee surgery but also cried when I got into the car after seeing her in pain. And as I reflected on the week that pulled me in a million different directions, I had an ah-ha moment. For the first time in a long time, I felt great. I didn’t feel like I was failing in one area just because I was succeeding in another. I realized that last week I allowed myself to lean into each experience, and instead of guilt, I felt whole. Somewhere along the way we started to equate "doing it all" with excellence. We started judging ourselves, and others, on our “performance” in every role we showed up to. But last week made me realize, doing it all does not require excellence. It requires making choices and showing up.?None of the roles I played last week required perfection. They just needed me to show up, do my best, and keep it moving. l’m done believing that success is only found in perfection and that comes at the expense of something else. I have come to realize that mindset holds people, especially women, back from being great and from owning that greatness.? Shed the guilt. Own the great.

The NJ Medicaid Bill is currently stalled, a bill that provides fertility preservation for individuals covered by Medicaid. For those registered in New Jersey, ?you can complete this form and request that your Assembly Member schedule it for a vote >> https://lnkd.in/eYTTVa4y The Chick Mission