REACH's Dr. Wing and patients on Good Morning America - Frozen Sperm Still Viable Decades Later

Stella Biblis Was Born in February Using Sperm Frozen 22 Years Prior

Good Morning America

(April 10, 2009)–The birth of Stella Biblis on Feb. 25 was 22 years in the making. Stella was conceived through in-vitro fertilization using frozen sperm her father, Chris Biblis, saved more than two decades ago.

Doctors believe 39-year-old Biblis probably holds the world record for the amount of time sperm has been frozen before being used to create baby.

Stella is living proof sperm can survive frozen for decades.

And it was her father's choice as a teenager fighting leukemia that lead to the medical marvel. This cancer survivor's case proves there are ways to preserve the option of a family: sperm can be frozen and saved for later use.

Planning Ahead

As a teen, Biblis was in and out of hospital battling leukemia and not thinking very much about his future family.
Doctors said young, teenage patients and their parents often don't think about the parenthood issue when they are dealing with cancer, whose treatment can often leave victims infertile. If they're facing a life threatening disease, the priority is surviving, not procreating.

"I was trying to get through high school and living one day at a time, hoping I was honestly going to make it,"Biblis said. "It was the furthest thing from my mind, being married or having a child."

And while it wasn't something he was considering, his mother, who now lives in Auburn, Ala., was planning ahead for a post-cancer life.

While undergoing chemotherapyBiblis's mother convinced the then 16-years-old to freeze some of his sperm. And he did on April 25, 1986 at Xytex International Ltd. in Atlanta....Read more...

Source: Good Morning America