MTV reality star Diem Brown chooses to delay cancer treatment to preserve eggs
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}MTV reality star Diem Brown has decided to undergo another round of fertility treatments in order to harvest more eggs before she surgically removes her ovary as part of her cancer treatment, People.com reported.
Brown, who was diagnosed with ovarian cancer at the age of 22, had one ovary and several lymph nodes removed before she starred in Real World/Road Rules Challenge. She participated in the network’s The Challenge: Battle of the Exes in 2011.
Now, at the age of 30, the cancer has returned, and doctors need to remove the last part of her remaining ovary.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}She told People.com that she knows her decision to delay surgery will make other people judge her, but she won’t have any regret.
“This isn’t my first rodeo, and regret can become your worst enemy,” Brown wrote in her blog on People.com. “I’ve already been through the long and challenging months of chemo six years ago, and I remember how depressed I was during certain parts of my treatment.”
Brown added “there is no going back after they remove my last part of my ovary. It starts my next cancer journey, and I’m scared.”
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}However, Brown is adamant about having a biological baby.
Since her mother died, Brown hopes a piece of her mother will be passed on in her future child.
“For me, the desire to have a biological baby is the hope that my mom … will come alive in my child,” Brown said. “Storing eggs in a freezer makes me feel that if I leave this earth, then at least a part of me will still be here.”
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Brown said she will take fertility drugs for 16 days, while doctors monitor her cancer and tumors through a blood test and internal ultrasounds.
Brown is the creator of MedGift.com, the first-ever patient gift registry for people in the hospital.
Patient registries on MedGift.com are verified through a patient’s hospital bill. Friends and family can log on to donate everything from money to help pay for things like hospital bills, groceries, medical equipment and they can even donate visits, letters and prayers.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}“Any item that can help reduce one ounce of stress, they can register for it,” Brown told Fox News in March. “It takes the pride out of asking for help.”
According to the Mayo Clinic, ovarian cancer can often go undetected for a long period of time.
Symptoms can include: abdominal pressure, fullness, swelling or bloating, changes in bowel or bladder habits, low back pain and a persistent lack of energy.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Risks for the disease can include: inherited gene mutations, increasing age, never having been pregnant or hormone replacement therapy for menopause, the Mayo Clinic said on its website.