Table 2 Interview quotes

1

8

‘I brought it up myself with my oncologist, when discussing hormone therapy. I had prepared my questions in advance, because I felt like: This is about my fertility and this is very important to me.’

2

12

‘Very little can be found online. Of course, I know that there are women who had breast cancer and became pregnant after that, often years later. But how that came to be? Did they have IVF or something like that before their treatment? (…) No one tells you how.’

3

14

‘I think it is very important that people can decide for themselves how deep they want to go into the subjects. Because you can fill a website with success stories of people who started a family after breast cancer. But for a lot of people that would be too painful.’

4

10

‘When you are ill, the first priority of your body and your head is: the cancer needs to go. You are not concerned about your fertility, because it does not fit into the picture (..) And I think, during that struggle for survival someone needs to remind you and occasionally tell you ‘this (fertility) matters too’’

5

2

‘What if I quit hormone therapy after three years (instead of five)? What are the consequences? Because it is a preventive treatment. So how much does my risk of breast cancer recurrence increase if I do this? And would it increase my chance of restored fertility?’

6

13

‘What are the consequences? You read about menopausal women that their bones are in worse shape, their hair thins out, skin quality declines. Does that mean that, compared to my mother, when I turn 70 years old I will look a lot older? Or my bones are much more fragile? I do not know and I can not find that anywhere.’

7

11

‘It (menopause) is not something that is visible, and not something you like to share with everyone. Who is proud of going through menopause? (…) So, I think if your relatives or the people close to you know, that would make things easier. Because now they think ‘It is all over, we will celebrate and move on’. But it is not.’

8

7

‘I feel rather lonely. I am around 35 years old. My friends all have children. No one really understands me. (…) I wish I could share my feelings and emotions with someone who is in a similar situation, or to receive information from someone I have not found myself. ‘

9

12

‘That feeling remains. The breast cancer took that (having a second child) away from me. I understand that I had no choice, we needed to start chemotherapy quickly.’

10

17

‘I contacted the hospital myself because it was not endurable. I got mad over nothing. I was cold all the time but suddenly hot. I had no appetite but was gaining serious weight. And I was so unhappy. I had become a completely different person. They really should have informed and guided me on how to deal with that.’