World’s Oldest Embryo Becomes Newborn Baby

Medical science keeps surprising us. In this case, it led to the birth of a healthy baby boy from an embryo that had been frozen for over 30 years.

What once might have sounded like science fiction is now real life.

Thaddeus Daniel Pierce was born last Saturday in Ohio, reports Ziare. His parents, Lindsay (35) and Tim Pierce (34), had been trying to start a family for seven years.

After facing challenges, they decided to adopt a frozen embryo. That decision made history.

Paid Thousands of Dollars Every Year to Keep Frozen

The embryo was created back in 1994. It belonged to Linda Archerd and her then-husband, who used in vitro fertilization to start their family.

One embryo became their daughter, now 30. The remaining three were kept in storage.

Linda didn’t want to destroy the leftover embryos. She also didn’t want to donate them to science or give them away anonymously.

So she continued to pay thousands of dollars each year to keep them frozen. Eventually, she found a Christian adoption agency called Nightlight Christian Adoptions.

They run a program called “Snowflakes” that helps match embryos with adoptive families.

A List of Requests for the Adoptive Parents

This program allowed Linda to choose the kind of couple she wanted to raise the child. She requested a white, Christian, married couple living in the United States.

She said she wanted to keep the connection within the country and remain part of the baby’s life.

That’s how the embryos found their way to Lindsay and Tim. The transfer happened at Rejoice Fertility, a clinic in Tennessee. The clinic accepts all embryos, no matter how old.

Lindsay said they weren’t trying to make news. They just wanted a child. Linda hasn’t met the baby in person yet, but she has seen pictures. She says the baby already looks like her daughter.

This is now believed to be the longest an embryo has ever been frozen before resulting in a live birth. The previous record was held by twins born in 2022 from embryos frozen in 1992.

Sometimes, patience really does pay off.