Lisa Fasone desperately wanted to give her daughter a little brother or sister. But when she and boyfriend, Larry Brastad, started trying, they joined the millions of Americans battling infertility.
“I thought I was never going to have another child,” said the 32-year-old woman from McHenry, Ill. told People. “It was an awful feeling.”
More than a year later, doctors found a solution — but they would have to go deep inside Fasone’s brain to pull it off.
After giving birth to her first child in 2022, Fasone began experiencing symptoms she assumed were caused by her fluctuating postpartum hormones, like night sweats, headaches, fatigue and no menstrual cycle She also continued to produce milk long after she was done nursing.
“I kind of chalked it up to I just had a baby, you know, a year or two ago,” said Fasone, a urology physician assistant in the Chicago area. “I’m just still not quite right because of that.”
But when doctors did bloodwork, they found her prolactin levels were elevated. The hormone is produced by the pituitary gland — nestled at the base of the skull — where it stimulates lactation and influences fertility.
“They suspected it was a tumor because I didn’t have any other risk factors for why my prolactin would be so high,” Fasone said.
Medication brought her levels down for a time, but eventually she stopped responding to the drugs and her symptoms returned. She was also afraid of what the treatment might be doing to her body.
“The medication isn’t well studied for pregnancy,” she said. “I just didn’t feel comfortable trying to have a baby without good data to suggest it was safe.”
It left her staring down a Catch-22: If she got pregnant, she’d have to stop the medication immediately to protect her baby. But if she went off it, the tumor could grow, potentially leading to other side effects.
The benign mass, called a prolactinoma, is the most common type of tumor on the pituitary gland.
In the US, about 1 in 10,000 people will develop one, according to the Pituitary Society. The cause remains unknown, though women are far more likely to be affected than men.
While it wasn’t life-threatening, the tumor was making pregnancy nearly impossible by suppressing Fasone’s estrogen and testosterone, two hormones essential for reproduction.
“Taking her tumor out is like taking an orange seed out of a blueberry and not trying to mess up the blueberry … that’s how small it is.”
Dr. Stephen Magill
“The pituitary gland is the master hormone regulator of our body,” said Dr. Stephen Magill, a neurosurgeon with Northwestern Medicine. “When you get tumors in the pituitary gland, they can disrupt some of that hormonal regulation.
“In [Fasone’s] case, it was a very small tumor, but it was having a big effect on the body because it was secreting and elevating these prolactin levels.”
Normally, prolactinomas can be managed with medication. But Fasone was experiencing a rash of side effects on the drugs, and her desire to get pregnant made the situation even more complicated.
“I had to make a decision,” Fasone said. “Do I continue increasing the dosage of this medication that’s not making me feel great and doesn’t seem to be working, or am I going to face the issue and have it surgically addressed?”
In the end, she said yes to the operation.
On April 14 of last year, she went under Magill’s care as he and Northwestern Medicine otolaryngologist Dr. Kevin Welch removed the tumor, gaining access to her brain through her nose.
“Taking her tumor out is like taking an orange seed out of a blueberry and not trying to mess up the blueberry,” Magill said. “It’s just that’s how small it is, what we’re doing and trying not to miss anything.”
Fasone was off her feet for about a month following the operation, but it would all be worth it.
“Thirty days after my surgery, my menstrual cycles restarted and I had not had a normal period since well before I got pregnant with my first child because of this problem,” Fasone said. “So that was really exciting.”
A few weeks later, blood work showed her prolactin levels were elevated again.
“I was like, oh my gosh, here we go. Same problem. He didn’t get all the tumor,” Fasone said. “But it turns out that my prolactin levels were elevated because I was actually pregnant.”
Fasone gave birth to a daughter, Natalie, in February. Recently, they made a trip to visit Magill so he could meet the little girl he helped bring into the world.
“The reason we all went into medicine, and I did at the beginning, is to really help people,” he said. “Holding a healthy baby is just — it’s incredible.”
Fasone credits Magill with turning her life around.
“I was able to get off the medication, my body returned to normal, and I was able to complete my family,” she said, calling the moment she introduced Natalie to Magill one she’ll never forget.
Around the world, one in six people struggle with infertility — and yet, Fasone said, it remains a “very isolating” experience despite how common it is.
“I think being a woman of childbearing age, it can be really difficult to go through that process, especially when your friends are getting pregnant,” Fasone said.
She urged others navigating infertility to seek out support groups and to push back when doctors dismiss their concerns.
“If you feel like something’s wrong, make sure that your voice is heard,” Fasone said.
