Name: Couple opens up about experience with male infertility
Uploaded: 2025-10-30T15:44:42.418Z
Duration: 3 min 31 s
Description: Globally, infertility affects one in six couples, and male fertility issues contribute to nearly half of couples struggling to conceive. An Ohio couple opened up about their experience to help spread awareness.

Globally, infertility affects one in six couples, and male fertility issues contribute to nearly half of couples struggling to conceive. An Ohio couple opened up about their experience to help spread awareness.

Esther and Max Hackman, a married couple, faced challenges conceiving due to Max's extremely low sperm count, which was diagnosed after several months of unsuccessful attempts to start a family. Medical evaluation revealed Max had varicoseal, a condition affecting sperm production, which was successfully treated with surgery, leading to a significant improvement in his fertility.

Following the procedure, Max's sperm count normalized, and the couple welcomed a baby boy. The Hackmans' experience sheds light on the emotional toll of male infertility and underscores the importance of breaking societal stigma and increasing awareness about male reproductive health issues.

Couple opens up about experience with male infertility

High school sweethearts Esther and Max Hackman wanted to start a family shortly after they got married in 2023, but after five months of negative pregnancy tests, Esther saw her doctor who didn't identify any fertility issues with her. So Esther had a hunch. I was like, can you just take a home test in case and he was like? Why would I need to do that? I figured that it was a very small chance. Her sperm test found the lowest possible score for sperm count. Did you ever think about infertility? Not at all. You did as a woman. Yeah, yeah, not on my side, not at all. No, I guess maybe it was just my pride. You know, I would never think that you know that would happen to me. Max went to see a doctor who confirmed his count was 100 times lower than normal. How were you feeling? I. Felt. Like less of a man, you know, I felt like I was letting Esther down. So in Max's case, it wasn't that he didn't have sperm. It was that they weren't. They couldn't get out too few and they weren't swimming. His doctor, Doctor Scott Lundy, is a urologist at Cleveland Clinic in Ohio, specializing in male infertility. Society tells us a lot of inaccurate things about fertility, and it also has linked the idea of male infertility with masculinity. They're not the same, and we really have to break that stigma because it's harming patients and it's harming couples. According to the Mayo Clinic, aside from medical conditions, men are born with or develop. There are environmental factors men need to be aware of, like exposure to heat, certain medications or toxic chemicals, obesity, marijuana and testosterone use. The leading anatomic cause of male infertility is varicoseal, which affects about 20% of men. A varicoseal is a dilated set of veins above the testicle, and that causes either pain in the testicle like a dull achy pain, or it causes infertility or it causes lower testosterone. Max had varicoseal on both testicles, but Doctor Lundy was able to correct it surgically. 80% of men who have the surgery see a significant improvement in sperm count. It typically takes three months post operation for the sperm to regenerate. That's when Max had a message from Doctor Lundy. The first thing I saw was just a message that says your sperm counts have completely normalized. This is great news. I was crying immediately and it was a really, really special thing. Then just one month later, Esther secretly took a pregnancy test while Max was asleep. I just saw two lines dropping out and I was just like, wait, get up, get up. I was like, come here. Yeah, their baby boy Patrick was born in March. The Hackmans realized how fortunate they are, though Max is still working through the emotional toll of his experience. I still feel that tinge of shame and embarrassment, but I think I can kind of do the mental gymnastics to reframe it. But I know that there are people out there feeling that exact same thing and it makes me feel like I didn't suffer in vain. If I can kind of leverage my own experience to help get the word out and to help them know that they're not alone and that there is hope.

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