For many people, music serves as a soundtrack to particular moments in life. For one woman navigating years of fertility treatment, a single song became something far more significant: a source of comfort, motivation and emotional strength during one of the most challenging periods she would ever face.

The track was Titanium, the globally successful dance anthem performed by Australian singer-songwriter Sia and produced by French DJ David Guetta. Released in 2011, the song’s message of endurance and defiance resonated with millions of listeners worldwide. For one prospective mother undergoing repeated rounds of fertility treatment, however, its meaning became deeply personal.

The years spent pursuing pregnancy through in vitro fertilisation (IVF) were marked by a relentless cycle of appointments, tests and uncertainty. Medical consultations became routine. Blood tests, hormone monitoring and scans punctuated daily life, while every outcome carried the potential for either hope or disappointment.

During that period, Titanium evolved from a popular radio hit into a ritual. Before appointments and after difficult consultations, the song became a familiar companion. Its soaring chorus and themes of perseverance offered a brief but powerful sense of control amid circumstances largely dictated by medical procedures and biological uncertainty.

Listening to the song became a habit. Each time it played, it delivered the same emotional effect: a temporary surge of confidence and determination. The volume would rise, car windows would come down and the lyrics would be sung loudly, regardless of vocal ability. The experience provided a release from the anxiety and vulnerability that often accompany fertility treatment.

The emotional attachment deepened as the IVF journey progressed. In May 2012, when she and her husband travelled to the clinic for another embryo transfer, the song accompanied them. It was there again during the drive home from scans confirming the pregnancy was progressing successfully.

As the pregnancy advanced through the critical early milestones, the track became associated not only with the struggle to conceive but also with the possibility that years of effort might finally produce the outcome they had hoped for.

Pregnancy after fertility treatment can bring its own set of anxieties. Each medical appointment can feel like a test, and many prospective parents remain cautious even as positive milestones accumulate. Throughout those months, the song continued to provide reassurance and emotional reinforcement.

The long-awaited breakthrough came in January 2013 with the birth of the couple’s first son.

The family’s story did not end there. Fifteen months later, a second son was born following another IVF procedure using the couple’s remaining fertilised embryos. Four years after that, a third son arrived without fertility treatment.

The outcome represented a remarkable change from the uncertainty that had defined earlier years. Yet the family remains conscious that fertility treatment does not produce the same result for everyone who undertakes it.

Globally, IVF has enabled millions of births since its introduction, but success rates vary considerably depending on factors including age, medical history and individual circumstances. For many families, treatment involves repeated cycles, substantial emotional strain and, in some cases, heartbreaking disappointment.

That reality has shaped the way the woman views her own experience. She describes her family as extraordinarily fortunate and remains aware that others facing similar challenges may not receive the same outcome despite investing equal effort, hope and resilience.

More than a decade after the birth of her first child, Titanium continues to occupy a unique place in family life.

The song has become widely recognised within the household as her personal anthem. Unlike most of the music she listens to, it remains one of the few mainstream dance tracks that has retained a permanent place on her playlists. Its significance is no longer connected solely to fertility treatment but to a broader story of overcoming adversity.

Her children have grown up understanding its importance. Whenever the song appears on television or streaming services, they call her into the room. The track has become shorthand for a chapter of family history that predates many of their own memories but helped shape the family they know today.

Its symbolic role extends beyond the home. When she prepared a playlist to mark her 15th wedding anniversary, Titanium was chosen to represent 2011, the year when the fertility journey intensified and the song first became part of daily life. More recently, her husband sent her a voice message from a bar after hearing it playing in the background, immediately recognising the connection it still holds.

The experience reflects a broader truth about fertility treatment and prolonged medical struggles. Such journeys often become all-consuming, narrowing a person’s focus until nearly every decision, thought and emotion is filtered through the desire to achieve a successful pregnancy.

For those fortunate enough to reach that goal, life eventually expands beyond the treatment cycle. New priorities emerge, and the medical appointments that once dominated everyday existence begin to fade into memory.

Yet certain reminders remain.

For this mother, Titanium endures as a reminder not only of what she endured but of the determination required to navigate years of uncertainty. The fertility treatment ended long ago, but the emotions attached to the song never disappeared.

Today, when life presents new challenges and a moment of strength is required, the ritual remains largely unchanged. Alone in the car, she lowers the window, turns up the volume and lets the familiar chorus fill the space once again.

What began as a chart-topping pop song has become a permanent marker of resilience, carrying the memory of a struggle overcome and a family ultimately formed against long odds.

The condition will now be known as Polyendocrine Metabolic Ovarian Syndrome, or PMOS, according to findings published in The Lancet and presented Tuesday at the European Congress of Endocrinology in Prague.Researchers said the previous name, commonly shortened to PCOS, frequently misled both patients and clinicians by emphasizing ovarian cysts, which are not present in every case and are not the defining feature of the disorder.

Dr. Terhi Piltonen of the University of Oulu, lead author of the Lancet paper and a related research letter published in JAMA Internal Medicine, said the terminology had contributed to delayed diagnoses and fragmented medical care.

Researchers said the new name was intended to better reflect the disorder’s broad hormonal, reproductive and metabolic effects, including infertility, irregular menstruation, insulin resistance, obesity, cardiovascular complications, anxiety and depression.Women with the condition often exhibit elevated levels of immature ovarian follicles rather than actual cysts, researchers noted.

The renaming initiative was coordinated by several international research groups and the Androgen Excess and PCOS Society following a multi-year consultation process involving more than 14,000 survey responses from patients and healthcare professionals, two international workshops and contributions from 56 medical, academic and patient advocacy organizations.

Medical experts said the terminology shift could help standardize care and improve awareness among clinicians, particularly because many patients remain undiagnosed or receive treatment focused narrowly on reproductive symptoms instead of broader metabolic risks.

Although PMOS remains incurable, symptoms can be managed through medication, dietary changes and exercise, according to guidance from the Endocrine Society.

Researchers said implementation of the new terminology would begin immediately, with plans over the next three years to integrate PMOS into clinical guidelines, medical education, health systems and international disease classification standards.

There’s no evidence to prove that the antibodies created by COVID vaccine cause infertility.

According to a recent study, COVID-19 vaccine doesn’t affect fertility and one’s ability to have a family in the future. The internet is filled with doubts about COVID vaccines, people are questioning and doubting the legitimacy of vaccines.

“As a parent it’s my job to protect my child. If there was a genuine risk that they could die of COVID, I would consider giving them a vaccine for it. But when there is a genuine risk, they could be harmed from the vaccine, it’s a big ‘no’ from me”, said a concerned anti-vaccine father on twitter.

COVID vaccines are falsely linked to infertility because research do talk about COVID-19 virus affecting men’s fertility due to the virus entering the testes cells which are vulnerable to the SARS- COV-2 hence lowering the sperm count of a man and affecting the fertility.

“Though it’s clear the vaccines don’t cause infertility, it’s possible that severe COVID-19 could influence sperm count if someone has a prolonged fever”, said Dr. Sigal Klipstein, chair of the ethics committee at the American Society of Reproductive Medicine.

“The possible risk factors of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID‐19) infection on fertility comes from the abundance of angiotensin‐Converting Enzyme‐2 (ACE2), receptor entry of the virus, on testes, a reduction in important sex hormone ratios and COVID‐19‐associated fever”, according to a National Center for Biotechnology Information. The virus can also affect the spermatogenesis process — the male body’s operation of generating sperms.

However, the entire theory of COVID vaccines causing infertility was based on an idea that one of the spike proteins in COVID-19 virus and in the vaccine are the same, but they are not. It has been proven in research that they are distinct from each other. The COVID vaccine works by training our bodies to develop antibodies to fight against the virus and there’s no evidence to prove that the antibodies created by COVID vaccine cause infertility.

In fact, the COVID vaccine can protect one’s fertility by protecting it from severe COVID symptoms.

“Getting COVID can be potentially detrimental to one’s fertility, and getting the vaccine is safe and could even protect fertility by protecting you against the severe effects of COVID disease,” said Jesse Ory, urology fellow in Infertility/Andrology at the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine.

The benefit of COVID vaccine can be observed in the UK. 32.2 million, almost 48.4% of the United Kingdom’s population have been fully vaccinated. In the last week UK has seen rise in delta variant of Corona virus with more than 75,000 cases confirmed by genetic analysis and British scientists estimated the variant is 40% to 80% more transmissible than the Alpha variant yet there hasn’t been a rise in hospitalization. According to the data, Over 60s, around 90% of whom are fully vaccinated, make up only 4% of cases.

“Delta variant has dominated in the UK, COVID cases rising. But hospitalizations are not rising meaning vaccines work. Fear mongering doesn’t”, said Faheem Younus, MD VP/CQO/Chief of Infectious Diseases on twitter.

Jaafar Siddiqui earned Bachelors in Journalism from the University of Hertfordshire — United Kingdom. He writes for The Milli Chronicle on Business, Politics, and Culture.