EXCLUSIVE: Cancer survivor’s fight to fund fertility treatment after chemo
Alix Maitland was just 20 when she was forced to choose between life-saving chemotherapy and the chance to one day have children
Last updated 6th May 2025
A young cancer survivor from Paisley is calling for urgent changes to NHS fertility rules, after being told she would now need to pay over £5,000 to freeze her eggs.
Alix Maitland, now 22, was diagnosed with stage four Hodgkin lymphoma at just 20 years old.
Currently, women being treated for cancer have the option to access a range of fertility treatments, including freezing eggs, free of charge - so long as it's before chemotherapy treatment.
Alix was offered the opportunity to freeze her eggs before undergoing treatment, but it would have delayed her chemotherapy by more than a month and Alix worried that she may not survive that long.
She has now started a petition calling for fertility services to be funded pre and post chemotherapy.
In an exclusive interview with Forth 1, she said: "They told me I could do it, but that they wouldn't recommend it because it would delay my treatment starting between four to six weeks.
"I didn't know what sort of a position I was going to be in, in a month's time.
"I was more concerned about saving my own life.
"It was difficult to think about anything other than the fact you'd just been told you had stage four cancer.
"Nothing goes through your head at that point except: 'Am I going to die?'
"All I wanted was to beat it and be able to live."
'I was stage four, young, and overwhelmed'
Fertility preservation is funded on the NHS before cancer treatment begins, but not afterwards as it is currently not recommended due to the damage it can cause to the body and eggs/sperm.
That means survivors like Alix, who could not afford to delay her treatment, are left to cover the full cost themselves if they want a shot at having children later in life.
Alix is now in remission, but the emotional and financial toll of her diagnosis has not ended.
“You've already been through something so massive, so why should you be treated any differently to someone who had the opportunity to freeze their eggs before starting treatment?
"I was in a different circumstance to them - I was stage four, I was young, and I was overwhelmed.
"The last thing I was fixating on is whether I wanted kids later in life.
"Nobody wants to die. Nobody wants to have the worst thing happen to them. But in that moment, you're focussing on how to get better and not about what if, or what could be."
'It's frustrating'
The cost of egg freezing can run to £5,500 - a price tag Alix says most young cancer patients simply cannot afford.
She is now campaigning for NHS access to be extended to patients post-treatment, saying survivors should not be left behind.
“I've not got many eggs left, and I have been told my best bet is to freeze them.
"Not every woman out there who's in the same position as me will be able to afford that.
"It's frustrating, and I am frustrated for them.
"Why should we not be allowed the chance to have a family because we don't have £5,500 to fling out to freeze our eggs?"
'Working on guidance'
A spokesperson for the Scottish Government's health department said: "Being diagnosed with cancer is a difficult and traumatic experience for any woman, particularly when they are considering the impact on planning a family.
“A Scottish Government Group is working on guidance to standardise access to fertility preservation.
"The guidance is in its final stages of development and is expected to publish later this year.
“Currently, decisions as to what procedures or treatment are appropriate for individual patients and medical advice given on fertility preservation are matters of clinical judgement taking account of existing professional guidance, including the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence.”