Chick Mission is a non-profit that provides grants, giving female cancer patients the financial ability to preserve their fertility.
"The idea that motherhood would be off the table after treatment led me to freeze my eggs," three-time cancer survivor Amanda Rice said. "Unfortunately, I didn't have any fertility benefits, and so I paid out of pocket."
Rice said very often, infertility due to cancer treatments doesn't fall into insurance companies' timelines for benefits.
"When I called my insurance company to preserve my fertility as a newlywed, they let me know that would be an elective treatment," cancer survivor Tracy Weiss said. "I just remember thinking, I didn't elect to have a tumor. The side effects of the surgery that was going to save my life would be permanent infertility."
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Rice and Weiss are the force behind Chick Mission.
"There is an urgency that comes with a cancer diagnosis," Weiss said. "You have to preserve your fertility. It's kind of your only shot."
Chick Mission has raised $2-million since it started in 2017. When the pandemic started, it pivoted to a polar-plunge-style video fundraiser called 'The Great Egg Freeze'. Last year, they raised $400,000. To date, they've given grants to 125 cancer patients to preserve their fertility.
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"I don't think that your socio-economic background should dictate whether you become a future mom after you win your battle with cancer," Rice explained. "I had to figure out a way to solve this problem."
10 states have laws that require insurers to cover fertility preservation for cancer patients and others facing infertility because of medical treatments. Other states have proposed legislation, including Texas, where Chick Mission is lobbying to pass HB 293.
"Our ultimate goal is to be out of business because all 50 states changed their law and we can focus on something else," Rice said.
