On July 26, 2025, Thaddeus Daniel Pierce was born in Ohio from an embryo frozen for over 30 years, marking a file for the longest-frozen embryo resulting in a stay delivery, as reported by MIT Know-how Evaluate.
Lindsey and Tim Pierce adopted the embryo by Nightlight Christian Adoptions’ Snowflakes program. The embryo, created in 1994, originated from organic mom Linda Archerd through IVF.
Within the early Nineties, Archerd and her then-husband confronted infertility for six years earlier than turning to IVF, a then-emerging know-how, according to the BBC.
They produced 4 embryos, with one implanted to develop into Archerd’s now-30-year-old daughter, who has a 10-year-old little one. The remaining three have been cryopreserved, with Archerd paying annual storage charges of about $1,000.
After her marriage ended and she or he reached menopause, Archerd, now 62, selected to not discard the embryos or donate them for analysis.
As a Christian, she opted for embryo adoption to have enter on the adoptive dad and mom. She specified preferences for a married, Caucasian, Christian couple within the US.
Lindsey Pierce, 35, and Tim Pierce, 34, had tried for seven years to conceive earlier than exploring embryo adoption. They registered with the Snowflakes program, open to varied embryo standards.
The match occurred in 2022 after Archerd offered medical information, some handwritten, for verification.
Nightlight Christian Adoptions facilitated the method by its Snowflakes initiative, which treats embryos as distinctive lives, much like snowflakes.
This system requires a house research and background checks for adopters. As soon as matched, adoptive dad and mom assume full possession below property legislation, with organic dad and mom relinquishing rights.
The embryo switch befell at Rejoice Fertility Clinic in Knoxville, Tennessee, in November 2024. Dr. John Gordon, a reproductive endocrinologist, dealt with the process, thawing the outdated embryos regardless of challenges like outdated storage strategies.
Of two transferred embryos, one developed into Thaddeus, born after 11,148 days in storage.
Lindsey described Thaddeus as “chill” and the expertise as surreal, like a sci-fi film.
Archerd famous Thaddeus resembles his organic sister as a child, expressing pleasure on the sibling connection. She has not met him but however hopes to, regardless of the space.
This delivery surpasses earlier information, together with twins from 30-year-old embryos in 2022. Few companies deal with such aged embryos resulting from viability considerations from long-term storage. Advances in cryopreservation have improved success charges over a long time.
Within the US, an estimated 400,000 to 1.5 million embryos stay frozen from IVF procedures. IVF accounts for about 2% of births nationwide. Within the UK, IVF births rose from 1.3% in 2000 to three.1% in 2023.
Embryo adoption affords an alternate for unused embryos, permitting organic dad and mom to pick out households. Packages like Snowflakes have enabled hundreds of such adoptions since 1997.
