Fertility Blog

A homemade pie can do much more than finish off your Thanksgiving dinner. It can honor someone you love, bring neighbors together, and help a family facing cancer feel less alone. That spirit is at the heart of Sharsheret's Pies for Prevention bake sale. For the 11th year, Illume Fertility's Dr. Ilana Ressler is leading the effort in Westchester, NY, turning a love of baking into tangible support for families facing breast and ovarian cancer. Here's the story behind the tradition and how to make it part of your holiday table.

Medically reviewed by Joshua M. Hurwitz, MD After losing his mother and two aunts to cancer, Colin learned he carried the same inherited BRCA2 variant, giving his future children a 50% chance of inheriting it. He and Laura questioned whether having biological children was right for them until a conversation with Laura's OB-GYN introduced them to a new option: in vitro fertilization (IVF) with preimplantation genetic testing for monogenic conditions (PGT-M), which could help them reduce the risk of passing down the variant.

Trying to conceive with polyendocrine metabolic ovarian syndrome (PMOS), formerly called polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS), can raise questions about ovulation, treatment, and what your diagnosis means for pregnancy. Illume Fertility's dedicated PMOS program brings fertility care together with nutrition, emotional support, acupuncture, and education so you can better understand what is affecting your fertility and what comes next.

Navigating pregnancy and parenting after loss can bring grief, gratitude, fear, and joy—sometimes all at once. Learn what the term "rainbow baby" means and how to find support throughout this complex journey.

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No two family-building journeys look exactly the same, and that is especially true for the LGBTQ+ couples we work with at Illume. Some come to us already knowing what their path will look like. Others need time to compare options, talk to friends, and figure out what feels right. In this story, one couple shares how they chose surrogacy as their path to parenthood.

[glance] The Human Rights Campaign Foundation (HRC) released its 2026 Healthcare Equality Index on June 5, 2026, and Illume Fertility has been named a Leader for the eighth year in a row. This year's report arrives in a healthcare landscape where LGBTQ+ care access is being actively debated and, in many states, restricted, which shaped both how facilities participated and how their results are being shared publicly.

[glance] Finding the right fertility doctor often comes down to fit. Clinical excellence is important, of course, but so is the way your doctor listens, responds to questions, and helps you weigh your options. The profiles below are designed to help you get to know the people behind the white coats at Illume Fertility.