The miracle baby who was born at the age of 26!
Father had sperm frozen when cancer struck at 21
A NEW father has revealed how his baby was conceived using a sperm sample collected more than a quarter of a century ago.
Peter Hickles was diagnosed with cancer in 1996, aged just 21, and he acted on advice to store a sample before having chemotherapy.
Now, 26 years later, his fiancee Aurelija Aperaviciute, 32, has given birth to their son Kai following IVF treatment.
‘I keep looking at him and shaking my head in disbelief. He really is a little miracle,’ said Mr Hickles, now 47. ‘It’s incredible to think he’s been in deep freeze all this time.’ Doctors thought the young footballer had rheumatoid arthritis when he felt unwell in 1996 but then a tumour was found on his back. Hodgkin’s lymphoma, caused by white blood cells growing out of control, was diagnosed.
Before chemotherapy, which can damage sperm production, he gave a sperm sample which was kept in a freezer at University College Hospital in London with an expected shelf-life of ten years. Medical advances have since made older samples more viable.
With his fiancee, Mr Hickles, who lives in Colchester, Essex, and runs a landscaping business, spent
£30,000 on IVF treatment. ‘After the chemotherapy I was left with no sperm count,’ he told the Sun.
‘ When I got together with Aurelija, we wanted to have a child but knew it would be difficult. Luckily, the sperm sample was judged to be viable.’
Kai was born in hospital by caesarean section weighing 8lb 10oz – and his father has not ruled out trying for another baby. ‘I can’t believe he’s arrived now. I’m such a lucky dad,’ he said.
In 1996, John Major was prime minister, England reached the semi-finals of the Euros, the Dunblane massacre took place and both Prince Charles and Prince Andrew got divorced.
The record gap between sperm being frozen and a baby being born is 27 years, held by the parents of twins in America.