A new chapter has opened in American medicine — in the Pierce family from Ohio, a baby was born grown from an embryo frozen in 1994, reports technologyreview.com. Such a case has been recorded for the first time in history: this embryo was preserved for 30 years and now, being born, Thaddeus Daniel Pierce has become a record holder as the “oldest embryo-born baby”.
35-year-old Lindsay Pierce, according to her, went through a difficult childbirth, but now both she and the newborn feel well. Lindsay and her husband Tim Pierce decided to “adopt” this unusual embryo. The embryo originally belonged to 62-year-old Linda Archerd — in her youth, she could not get pregnant and used IVF (in vitro fertilization). Specialists created four embryos for her, one of which resulted in a daughter. The remaining embryos were kept frozen.
Lindsay Pierce and her husband Tim Pierce
Over time, Linda Archerd abandoned the idea of having more children and decided to give her embryos to others. In the US, there are special agencies offering “embryo adoption” to couples suffering from infertility. As MIT Technology Review notes, many agencies are cautious about accepting long-frozen embryos — because 30 years ago, preservation technologies were not as advanced, and developing “old” embryos is considered more risky.
When choosing an “adoptive” family, the opinion of the embryo’s biological mother is also taken into account. For example, Linda Archerd wanted the embryo to be given to a family living in the US and sharing her religion.
The birth of a new life is a success of medicine and science, and technologies for long-term embryo storage are expected to develop further in the future. This event opens up new hopes and opportunities not only for the Pierce family, but for thousands of families around the world.
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