Frozen sperm produces child
 A 17-year-old boy who needed treatment for testicular cancer 21 years ago had his sperm frozen before starting successful treatment. That boy is now a 38 year-old father of a baby boy. The 21 year old sperm was used to conceive the child.
Scientists say this is a new record. Never before has a baby been conceived using sperm that had been frozen for so long.
Researchers say this news is a godsend for young men who are about to undergo treatment for cancer. Often the treatment leaves them infertile.
Greg Horne, Embryologists, St Mary's Hospital in Manchester, UK, said "I'm 99 per cent sure that it is the oldest frozen sperm sample used (for a live birth)."
For 21 years, the sperm remained frozen in liquid nitrogen. The father got married and decided to have a family. So, scientists injected a single sperm (thawed) in the mother's egg. A system called intractoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI) was used, and an embryo was created. After four IVF attempts a baby boy was born (two years ago).
Greg Horne said he was surprised at how many of the sperms were still motile (moving well) after 21 years of storage. You can read about this in more detail in the journal Human Reproduction.
The father and mother decided to go public on this so that young men with cancer may have hope for the future. The couple have not released their names.
If a young man has cancer and needs treatment he can became infertile. Encouraging him to store some of his sperm for the future before undergoing treatment would make it more possible for him to have his own children one day.
In the United Kingdom a man's sperm can be stored until he reaches the age of 55.
Greg Horne said "This case provides evidence that long-term freezing can successfully preserve sperm quality and fertility. This is important to know because semen stored by young cancer patients is undertaken at a time of great emotional stress when future fertility is unlikely to be an immediate priority."
Paul Ellis - Men's Health 
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