A Scottish musician whose sperm was frozen for 26 years and 243 days before being used for in-vitro fertilisation, claims a world record.
The musician from Glasgow stored his sperm before having chemotherapy for cancer when he was 21. Doctors had informed him the therapy would leave him infertile and that having his sperm frozen would be the only way to have children in the future.
When he met his partner he explained to her that they would need to have in-vitro fertilisation in order to have children. The couple used the sperm in 2010, when he was 47 and she was 37. They had twins (a boy and a girl) in 2011.
The musician knew he held the record for the oldest sperm used in successful IVF, but did not want the publicity involved. He only came forward and claimed the world record when he found out that he could be listed anonymously by Guinness World Records.
The 54-year-old man had his record accepted. He told The Sunday Times that he wanted to publicise how long sperm can be frozen to create healthy children. “For people going through chemotherapy, they should keep hope”, he said.
The previous record-holder was a man from Australia, whose sperm had been frozen for 23 years.
According to the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority sperm can be frozen for more than 40 years, but not all sperm survive the process.
Read more: https://www.thetimes.co.
