TORONTO — Future, a non-profit organization that provides fertility preservation and information support services to cancer patients and oncology professionals, is holding its first Toronto fundraising event, An Evening of Hope, May 10 at Hart House.

The organization, which was founded four years ago, has been raising funds and awareness about young cancer survivors who are made infertile through chemotherapy, radiation or surgery.

Many, if not made aware of their options, find themselves unable to have children of their own.

Fertile Future’s programs include Power of Hope, which helps subsidize the cost of fertility preservation for men and women before their treatments.

Andrea Unikowsky, co-chair of An Evening of Hope, said that “when 20- and 30-somethings are diagnosed with cancer, they are swept into a world that is often geared for patients double or triple their age and who have already had families.

“Oncologists may not always have the resources to address the needs of this group, and patients may not have the financial or emotional resources to do so,” she said.

Fertile Future helps by supporting patients and oncology professionals and, in many cases, helps to offset the financial costs of fertility preservation.

Unikowsky said that Fertile Future has developed a network of medical professionals within hospitals and communities that discuss fertility-preservation options with patients.

For information or tickets, call 416-944-9957 or visit http://fertilefuture.ca.