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Peter Hickles, a 47-year-old Briton, defied predictions: he became a dad thanks to his sperm sample, given 26 years ago.
It’s a real miracle. Peter Hickles, a British resident of Colchester in Essex County, became a father thanks to a semen sample he had frozen in 1996.
The Briton suffered from cancer of the lymphatic system
It was in 1996, at the age of 21, that Peter Hickles was wrongly diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis. Far from worrying about it, he moved to Australia to live there for a year. But reality quickly catches up with him: he actually suffers from Hodgkin’s lymphoma, that is to say a cancer of the lymphatic system.
Back in England, he decides to freeze his sperm as a precaution. After depositing his sample in a sperm bank, the young man begins chemotherapy. Quickly, he becomes infertile and has azoospermia – in other words a total absence of sperm.
Exclusive – A Dad has fathered a baby – using sperm collected just three days before Euro 96 kicked off.
Peter Hickles, 47, gave the sample on June 5, 1996, after he was diagnosed with Hodgkin’s lymphoma aged 21.
On Thursday, Peter and his fiancé welcomed baby Kai. pic.twitter.com/f6uUawh8ZK—James Somper (@jgsomper) October 26, 2022
The specialists who follow him then warn him: his sperm sample will only be viable for about ten years and its quality may drop over time.
Peter Hickles will however have to wait until he is 47 before meeting his wife, Aurelia. Wanting to become parents, they contact the sperm bank and spend 30,000 pounds (about 34,000 euros) to perform in vitro fertilization.
Luckily, the semen sample is still viable. On Thursday October 20, 2022, a baby boy named Kai was born.
“JI find it hard to tell myself that he is now here. I’m such a lucky dad” the young father told The Sun newspaper. And to add: “I can’t stop looking at it and I can’t believe it. It’s really a small miracle (…) It’s incredible to think that he was in a freezer all this time.”
The parents, already satisfied, let it be understood that they would not be against a second child. And for good reason: they did not use the entire sample.
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Sperm donation and cancer: what consequences?
“Whether you have Hodgkin’s lymphoma or another type of cancer, it is quite possible to freeze your sperm, without there being any impact when thawing the fetus and the unborn child. It is even recommended to do it before starting a treatment, which will destroy and damage the spermatozoa.“, assures Dr. Pietin-Vialle, specialist in the medical and surgical treatment of couple infertility.