Protecting fertility for young cancer survivors
The Isabella Santos Foundation wants local kids to have fertility options without leaving the Carolinas
The following article appeared in the August 27, 2025, edition of The Charlotte Ledger, an e-newsletter with smart and original local news for Charlotte. We offer free and paid subscription plans. More info here.
A Charlotte nonprofit is focusing on ensuring that teens who need cancer treatments can preserve their ability to have children someday; ‘It gives me hope’
After she was diagnosed with cancer as a teenager, Hansley Hancuff, a former professional soccer player who lives in Charlotte, was told by doctors that the treatments would make her infertile. A Charlotte nonprofit is raising money to help young cancer patients preserve their eggs and sperm to be able to have children one day. (Photo courtesy of Hansley Hancuff)
by Carroll Walton
Hensley Hancuff was 16 when she was diagnosed with ovarian cancer. A year before college, with a soccer scholarship awaiting, she was told by her doctors in her hometown near Oklahoma City that she would not be able to get pregnant.
“That was obviously a very big pill to swallow,” Hancuff said.
Now, at the age of 25, her soccer career is over following stints as a goalkeeper for Villanova, Clemson and a professional career ending with the N.C. Courage, the women’s pro soccer team in the Raleigh area. Living and working in Charlotte now, and in a relationship, Hancuff has learned that she can get pregnant through the use of donor eggs.
“It gives me hope when that time comes,” Hancuff said. “It's exciting to know people like me are still going to be taken care of whenever it comes to still wanting to be a mom someday.”
According to a study in the medical journal Lancet Oncology, female survivors of childhood cancer have a 48% higher risk than their siblings of having clinical infertility. For boys, 44% have an increased risk over their siblings.
For families coping with the shock of a cancer diagnosis, focusing on a child’s future fertility is often overlooked. But now, the Charlotte-based nonprofit Isabella Santos Foundation is taking up the cause. It’s hosting an Oct. 23 event called “Carolina Charm” to raise money to help local cancer patients ages 12 to 21 preserve their eggs and sperm to be able to have children in the future.
Tickets are on sale for the event, which features TV personalities Shep Rose and Austen Kroll from Bravo’s show “Southern Charm.”
Erin Santos-Primis, founder of ISF, knows the shock and confusion of a childhood cancer diagnosis. She remembers how overwhelming it felt navigating treatment options when her daughter Isabella was diagnosed with neuroblastoma in 2007.
“When you first hear about the side effects of chemo, it’s like drinking from a firehose,” Santos-Primis said. “You hear about hearing problems, heart problems, risks of secondary cancer. When they say ‘increased risk of infertility,’ even when Isabella was 2 ½ , it caught my ear. I definitely perked up because that’s not something many people think comes along with chemotherapy.”
For Isabella, who lost her battle with cancer at age 7 in 2012, fertility preservation was not an option, but for children who have already entered puberty, it is. Dr. Deidre Downs at Reach Fertility in Charlotte said girls can donate their eggs in as little as two weeks’ time.
“Fertility preservation is a very real option for young cancer patients today,” Downs said. “At Reach, we prioritize time for these patients, and preservation efforts can often be completed in less than two weeks.”
Santos-Primis, who’s helped ISF raise a reported $16M towards cancer research and support, discovered that cancer centers in Atlanta and Houston have fertility preservation programs in place while their counterparts in the Carolinas don’t.
“What ISF tries to do is bridge that gap here in Charlotte to make sure our kids don't have to go to Atlanta to get that done,” Santos-Primis said.
Fertility preservation for adolescents with cancer is rarely covered by insurance, according to the American Society of Clinical Oncology. The cost for girls to retrieve eggs is between $10,000 and $15,000, not including storage fees. For boys, sperm preservation requires $500 to $1,000 up front and $200 to $400 per year to bank.
The ISP aims to raise $500,000 at the October event, which Santos-Primis said would cover the cost of retrieval and preservation for adolescent cancer patients entering Atrium Health Levine Children’s Hospital and MUSC Shawn Jenkins Children’s Hospital in Charleston, S.C., over the next two years. Her goal is to make the fundraiser a yearly event to continue funding this program.
“If this is something we can help them not think about and allow them to continue in their cancer journey, then why not do that?” Santos-Primis said.
➡️ More info on the Isabella Santos Foundation’s Oct. 23 Carolina Charm event
Carroll Walton is a longtime journalist and freelance writer who now authors The Ledger’s weekly Fútbol Friday newsletter on Charlotte FC. Reach her at carroll@cltledger.com.
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