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'Never heard of it': New dad Matt shares his journey with male infertility

By Naomi White|

When Perth couple Matt and Mylie Hammond married nine years after meeting, they couldn't wait to start trying for the baby they'd spent countless hours dreaming about.

But when six months passed without a positive test and their disappointment grew, Mylie, 32, decided to start investigating things further with their GP, who told her to just keep trying.

"That was a really tough 12 months," Matt, 34, told 9Honey Parenting. "Lot of our ?friends were getting pregnant at the same time, which was added stress."

"We felt so elated for them, but it makes you reflect on and feel sad for the space you're in," Mylie added.

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Mylie and Matt with Jasper.
Mylie and Matt Hammond with their son Jasper. (Supplied)

Keen to tackle any issues head on, Mylie made an appointment at fertility and IVF clinic Genea Hollywood, for what would be the 12-month mark for trying to conceive, with both assuming they were the cause of any issue.

As it turned out, blood tests by a GP at the clinic revealed they were experiencing male factor fertility, with Matt found to have Klinefelter syndrome. The genetic condition, which only affects males, often isn't picked up until adulthood, commonly when men are having difficulty conceiving.

The condition affects testicular growth, causing reduced testosterone levels and, devastatingly, often results in little to no sperm being produced.

For Matt, the first he'd heard of the condition was when he was told he had it.?

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Mylie and Matt with Jasper.
The Perth couple have adjusted well to parenthood. (Supplied)

"I'd never heard of anyone else that's had it. They said there was a strong chance I could be completely infertile and have no chance of having biological children. I felt like I'd let down my wife and it just made me feel a bit worthless," he said.

The couple was told their best chances were for Matt to undergo a microscopic testicular sperm extraction (MicroTESE). But even with this option, there was only a 50 per cent chance they'd find sperm. And then they were up against the statistics for a successful IVF conception.

"I guess men, you're the provider, and I couldn't give Mylie the one thing we both really wanted and had been talking about for years. It felt like it had been taken from us in one meeting, and for no reason at all," Matt said.

"It wasn't something I'd done, if it was I could move on from that and accept it. But it was something I was born with and had never known about. It was a tough pill to swallow."?

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Mylie and Matt with Jasper.
The added challenges leading to Jasper's conception means they don't take any moments for granted. (Supplied)

Matt was sent home after the surgery with painkillers, but no results. After an anxious wait, a call from their surgeon that night gave them the 'amazing news' they'd hoped for: they had sperm.?

"It was a very happy day. I felt like I wasn't letting down my wife anymore. It was just me putting extra stress on myself. This was a sense of ownership again. It was a big relief."

Mylie then underwent an IVF cycle and egg retrieval, which resulted in several embryos created through a process of injecting a single sperm into an egg.

The couple became pregnant after Mylie underwent an embryo transfer in May, 2021 and welcomed their son Jasper in February.

Matt is among the one in three IVF cycles resulting from male factor infertility, according to a new report by UNSW's National Perinatal Epidemiology and Statistics Unit. Of these cases, the cause was unexplained in 77 per cent of cases, while a previous vasectomy was behind a further seven per cent.

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The couple are cherishing life as a family of three after welcoming Jasper. (Supplied)

Researchers found 20 per cent of IVF cycles were due to male infertility, while a combination of male and female infertility accounted for a further 11.2 per cent of cycles.??

Meanwhile, recent research from the Hunter Medical Research Institute found male infertility could account for up to 50 per cent of infertility issues.?

Matt said men shouldn't feel nervous about investigating their fertility and in his experience, everyone was just there to help.

"Yes it's scary that you may have something wrong with you, but not everyone is perfect and it's quite common to be a male factor infertility. You don't have to be big and tough and it's ok to talk about and feel sad that you may have an issue," he urged.

"My advice to other men is there are plenty of support groups," he concluded. "There are so many people out there who have issues of their own. Since I've found out I've tried to be as open as possible and a lot of my mates have now been tested and some have had their own issues.

"Talking about it takes away the stigma."

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