Ines Pietschmann¹, Claudia Wiesemann¹

^{1 Institute} for Ethics and History of Medicine, University Medical Centre Göttingen

The question of whether children should play a role in one’s life, and if so, what that role should be, is an important aspect of our conception of a good life. This also involves determining the right time to start a family. It is not uncommon for life planning – including decisions regarding having children – to be shaped by culturally prescribed, linear notions of time. The idea that one must first tick off other ‘milestones’ in life – such as completing one’s education, securing a stable career and being in a committed partnership – in order to be ready for a child is widespread.

A cancer diagnosis can shatter the notion of such a linear and predictable life course. Some types of cancer, and their treatments in particular, can affect a person’s ability to have their own biological children. Faced with such a diagnosis, patients must consider fertility issues and make decisions about fertility preservation measures (FEM) within a very short space of time.

These decisions have a massive impact not only on one’s own future, but also on that of (potential) partners, existing children and those yet to be conceived. Under these unusual and culturally unfamiliar circumstances, notions of a good life must be re-evaluated within a very short space of time.

As part of a qualitative interview study with women and men of reproductive age living with cancer, we investigated how, in such a time-pressured situation, individuals’ own concepts of a good life and those of their partners are negotiated. The findings of the study will be presented and discussed in the light of temporal concepts of reproduction and starting a family.