At 28 years old, Annie Dauer was living a full life. She had a job she loved as a high school PE teacher, a big family who lived nearby, and a serious boyfriend. Then, cancer struck. Annie would come to find out she had Stage 4 non-Hodgkin's lymphoma. It was so aggressive, there was a real chance she might die. Her oncologists wanted her to start treatment immediately. Like, end-of-the-week immediately. But before Annie started treatment, she walked out of the doctor’s office and crossed the street to see a fertility doctor doing an experimental procedure that sounded like science fiction: ovary freezing.
Further Reading:
A medical case report on Annie’s frozen ovaries — https://www.fertstert.org/article/S0015-0282(10)02198-9/fulltext
What’s primordial germ cells got to do with it? — https://academic.oup.com/humrep/article/21/6/1345/724245
This episode was reported by Molly Webster, and produced by Pat Walters. With original music and scoring by Dylan Keefe and Alex Overington. The Gonads theme was written, performed and produced by Majel Connery and Alex Overington. Additional production by Rachael Cusick, and editing by Jad Abumrad.
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