At a Glance
- Sydney Towle, 26, revealed infertility after chemo for rare bile-duct cancer
- She regrets skipping egg-freezing before treatment that began at age 23
- A fertility doctor said time and viable eggs are now scarce
- Why it matters: Young cancer patients face hidden lifelong costs of lifesaving care
Influencer Sydney Towle has posted a raw TikTok confession about the fertility price she paid for surviving stage-4 cholangiocarcinoma, telling 873,000 followers that “a regret I live with every day” shadows her recovery.
“No Eggs in My Basket”
On January 11, Towle uploaded a clip reading from her Substack essay titled No eggs in my basket. The post explains why she chose not to freeze eggs before chemotherapy that started three years ago, when she was first diagnosed at age 23.
In the video she admits that hope surged when she paused chemo to join a clinical trial. She considered banking eggs during the break.
Doctor Delivers Harsh Timeline
Towle described a recent visit to a reproductive specialist who delivered blunt news:
- There “wasn’t enough time to pursue the process” unless she delayed cancer treatment again
- She was unlikely to “have many viable eggs left, if any at all”
- The priority should stay on the trial to treat the cancer that “most often occurs in people over the age of 50,” per Mayo Clinic
“There was that little kernel of devastation eagerly beginning to bloom,” Towle said in the excerpt. “It felt like I was being told I shouldn’t be considering a future.”
Mental Toll After Appointment
The influencer, known for documenting her health journey online, said the conversation altered her sense of identity.
“Suddenly, I’m not just 26 and trying to survive cancer, but I’m also 26 and thinking about the possibility that I won’t be a mom one day,” she reflected.
Towle added that the issue lingers in everyday moments.
“It sits in the back of my brain until my friends are all synced up or a stranger in a bathroom asks if I have an extra tampon,” she wrote.
Hope Returns, But Grief Stays
Despite the setback, Towle told followers her “hope has returned, as it typically does.” She remains open to parenthood “even if not through traditional methods,” yet acknowledges the grief resurfaces often.
“It’s still something that I think about often,” the excerpt concluded.
Broader Impact
Towle’s story highlights a rarely discussed side-effect facing young adults treated for aggressive cancers: life-saving therapies can erase future fertility options before patients have time to preserve them. Her public discussion adds visibility to a choice many survivors quietly wrestle with long after remission.
Ethan R. Coleman reported on Towle’s ongoing mental-health advocacy throughout her treatment, noting the influencer has continually shared updates with her large social-media audience since her 2023 diagnosis.
Sources told News Of Losangeles that Towle plans to keep chronicling her experience to push for broader awareness of fertility preservation timelines for adolescent and young-adult cancer patients.
