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MONTGOMERY COUNTY, Pennsylvania (KYW) — The Chick Mission, a nonprofit, rolled into Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, Monday. Its mission is to save fertility for young women who have cancer by providing grants.
It also aims to get more states to mandate insurance coverage for the treatments and to help women become moms.
“My baby, his name is Tino. He is a little boy, and he’s perfect,” said Rebecca Aguado, a new mom.
Aguado said she always wanted to be a mom, but a cancer diagnosis almost derailed that dream.
Doctors said she should have her eggs removed and preserved before cancer treatments because chemotherapy can hurt fertility. But Aguado’s insurance company refused to cover the cost, which can range from $10,000 to $20,000.
“It’s truly insane to me,” Aguado said.
But Chick Mission came to her rescue with a Hope Grant that paid for her fertility preservation.
“It was very important to me, obviously, from a monetary standpoint, but more from an emotional standpoint,” Aguado said.
The Chick Mission has a camper that’s traveling across the country to raise awareness, making a stop Monday at Shady Grove Fertility in Chesterbrook.
“Nobody should be denied the opportunity to have a family,” Dr. Isaac Sasson, of Shady Grove, said.
Sasson said the issue is that some states like Pennsylvania don’t mandate that insurance companies pay for fertility preservation for cancer patients. But a bill that could change that is pending in the Pennsylvania legislature.
“We have worked with phenomenal legislators across the aisle to get people to pay attention to this,” said Amanda Rice, who founded Chick Mission.
Rice started the nonprofit when she had cancer and her insurance refused to pay to preserve her eggs.
“I just thought, you know, wouldn’t it be great if I could help the next woman?” Rice said.
Rice didn’t end up having children, but the Chick Mission Hope Grants have resulted in 14 babies for other women.
“So I consider all those bundles of joy a piece of me,” Rice said.
Currently, just 22 states mandate insurance coverage for fertility treatments for cancer patients.
The Chick Mission camper will travel the country trying to change that and raise awareness.
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