Brandon Lischner is particularly grateful for his 7-month-old son — a “miracle” child because Lischner and his wife had very little chance of conceiving.
Lischner was first diagnosed with testicular cancer at the age of 18. He was single and didn’t give fertility preservation a serious thought before undergoing surgery and cancer treatments. When his cancer returned 13 years later, he was now married, and his doctors were adamant about sperm preservation before performing the surgery that was needed to treat his cancer, but would most likely make him infertile.
Three years later, the couple sought out in vitro fertilization at Magee-Womens Hospital of UPMC even though Lischner’s banked sperm count was extremely low as a result of his surgery and chemotherapy treatments.
With only a one in 100,000 chance of conceiving, the treatment was successful. Against the odds, Lischner is now “Daddy.”
