My piece on cancer and fertility — or infertility, as the case may be — published on April 24, 2011 in the ‘Science’ section of The New York Times.

Photo Credit: Anne Francey

The family minivan idles at the intersection of 59th and York in Midtown Manhattan. My boyfriend swabs my midriff with alcohol as he steadies the needle. My parents look on from the front seat, quietly studying their 22-year-old daughter and the young man they’ve known for only a month. The needle is filled with gonadotropin, a hormone that stimulates the ovaries to produce eggs. I’m late for my checkup at the fertility clinic.

How in the world did I get here?

Continue reading, here.