Jeannine Canino Bieda

November 10, 2016

My name is Jeannine Canino Bieda. I live with my husband in Chicago. I was diagnosed with breast cancer at the age of 36 in December 2012. I have no family history and I also tested negative for the BRAC gene. During this journey, I learned that you have to be your own health advocate. I decided to preserve my eggs and make embryos with my husband before my cancer treatment started in February 2013. This allowed us to have time and think about the decision of having children at a later date. Due to the medication Tamoxifen, that I am scheduled to take for 10 years, I cannot have a baby while on these meds which is during the peak of my fertility years. However, I could have made the choice to stop taking the medications and get pregnant and then go back on the Tamoxifen after the pregnancy, but my husband and I decided the risks outweighed the benefits of that decision. I think it’s important to point out that there is no wrong or right answer for a decision like this, as it is a personal decision. Women shouldn’t feel judgment either way. Surviving cancer was a big enough problem to tackle during this time. I have dense breast tissue, which can make diagnosing cancer harder. I was one of the lucky ones that caught my cancer early and now on a mission to help other women understand DBT with my YouTube videos. I’m grateful that we decided to freeze embryos because now we have choices. Choices that cancer would have taken away if we wouldn’t have taken the needed steps to preserve our genetics.