Steven’s condition made him sterile. Why women aren’t the only ones affected by infertility

Insight returns for a new season Tuesday 5 March at 8:30pm with the episode ‘Baby Drought’. Watch it on SBS or on

Being told you might never have children when you desperately want to is a heartbreaking scenario for those affected by infertility.

For Steven and Sarah Gillam, they can still remember how distressing the moment was when they found out that Steven was sterile.

“We just broke down crying,” Sarah told Insight. “We were a young couple, we thought ‘why us’?”

After some further testing, Steven was diagnosed with Klinefelter Syndrome, a genetic condition that affects one in 500 men in Australia.

It occurs in men who have an additional X chromosome, leading to lower levels of testosterone which affects sperm production.

“I felt like I failed a bit,” Steven told Insight.

Doctors offered the couple two solutions — using donor sperm to conceive or having Steven undergo a testicular biopsy to investigate if he had any sperm that the couple could use to pursue IVF.

Sarah and Steven were determined to have a child. Source: SBS

“If there was any possibility that Steven could father biologically, we wanted to uncover that,” Sarah said.

During the procedure, doctors found 11 sperm cells. But time was of the essence — the day before, Sarah had undergone her own procedure to harvest her eggs. Doctors extracted 12 eggs and the couples’ chance to have their own children finally seemed within reach.

Fertility specialist Dr Bill Ledger says men tend to only become aware of poor sperm health and contributing infertility conditions once it’s too late. Source: SBS

The cost of conceiving

But as with any IVF process, there is no guarantee it will work, even after investing thousands of dollars.

“We were at a crossroads — do we have a house and some more luxuries, or do we go down the path of IVF and potentially have children?” Sarah told Insight. “It’s a real gamble, and ‘til this day we are still renting.”

Dr Bill Ledger is a fertility specialist at the Royal Hospital for Women in Sydney. Although he is not the Gillam’s doctor, in his 30 years’ experience he has seen many patients with infertility issues.

To determine infertility in men, doctors look for three things — sperm count, the shape of the sperm and its motility (ability to move).

“For half of the men we see with poor sperm, there’s no obvious cause,” Ledger said. “And probably, they’ve been that way since they were born, but they only find out when they want to have children.”

Infertility is on the rise

According to the World Health Organization, one in six people globally will be affected by infertility.

Many experts also believe there’s been a decline in overall sperm quality over the past 30 years.

“It’s debated, but most people do see a decline in sperm quality because of male health in general,” Ledger told Insight. “More obesity, diabetes, more steroid use and medications to avoid going bald seem to have an effect.”

But there is one known fertility hindrance that both men and women are experiencing.

“The most important in Australia, is that people are waiting until later in life, to become a mum or a dad,” he said.

Women have long been aware of their biological clocks. Most women will run out of good-quality eggs in their late 30s and early 40s. But many men are unaware that they too have a biological clock, with sperm quality declining at 45, Ledger says the impact can lead to a number of complications in children born to older fathers.

“Women over the age of 35 are at an increased risk of things like miscarriage, Down syndrome,” Ledger told Insight. “But if the dad is older, there’s an increased risk of miscarriage in the couples, small birth weight babies, cancers, but also autism spectrum disorder is more common.”

Tenille and Jamie say they’ve never felt the urge to have children. Source: SBS

Australia is facing a baby drought

Australia and many other developed nations like the US, Italy and Japan are in the midst of a baby drought.

This decline in birth rates is happening for a number of reasons that range from cost-of-living, to an increase in infertility, to worries about the climate crisis and global affairs. Women are also more empowered to make decisions about their own lives and bodies and some are choosing not to have children at all.

Tenille Williams says she has never heard the ticking of her biological clock.

From an early age she knew children were not something she wanted. When she met her husband Jamie in high school, she was relieved to find out they were on the same page.

“I’ve never had the urge for babies or children, I’ve only had the urge to get puppies or kittens,”Tenille told Insight.

The couple have instead chosen to care for a number of very beloved pets at their home in Bundaberg, Queensland.

“When I really thought about it properly, I realized that there are a lot more cons to it than there were pros,” Jamie said. “And it wasn’t really worth it to me.”

For Tenille and Jamie, having children would take away their freedom to be spontaneous, their time to dedicate to their careers and the joy they find in spending time together.

“But I think, most importantly, is that we simply don’t want to and that is a valid choice that doesn’t need a lot of justification,” Tenille said.

The Gillam family now have two healthy children after a long and expensive battle with infertility. Source: SBS

‘Don’t wait until it’s too late’

For Sarah and Steven, not having children was not something they were ready to imagine.

The couple stood at their crossroads and took a leap of faith into the IVF process. After harvesting Sarah’s 12 eggs and Steven’s 11 sperm cells, the couple welcomed a daughter into their family. A few years later they used their last viable embryo and baby Charlie was born.

The process took 10 years and cost about $150,000 but Sarah and Steven couldn’t be more pleased with the outcome.

The couple are grateful that they chose to pursue IVF when they did, knowing how time-critical the fertility process can be.

“Our message, is if you do want to have children, don’t wait to find out if you’ve got fertility issues because you are against the clock,” Sarah said.

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