In the state of Ohio, a boy named Thedeus Daniel Pierce was born – a child who became a medical phenomenon. The baby was born from a human embryo that had been kept frozen for over 30 years. This became a new world record in the field of assisted reproductive technologies and at the same time a real breakthrough in cryomedicine.
As informs IFLScience, the embryo from which Thedeus was born was created in May 1994 during an in vitro fertilization (IVF) procedure by Linda Archard and her then-husband. After the successful birth of their daughter, the couple decided to preserve the remaining embryos through cryopreservation. The couple later divorced, but Linda refused to destroy or donate the embryos anonymously. Instead, she chose a more personal path — adopting embryos through a special program that allows for contact between the donor and future parents.
In 2024, two of the embryos frozen back in 1994 were transferred to Linza Pierce, a woman who decided to become a recipient. Nine months later, she gave birth to Thedeus, which became not just a family event, but an exceptional medical fact that interested the international scientific community.
The technology used to freeze embryos in the early 1990s, so-called slow freezing, is now considered outdated and less safe. In most clinics in the United States, it is no longer used, preferring vitrification, an ultra-fast method that significantly increases the chances of survival of embryos after thawing. More than 90 percent of clinics in the U.S. would not accept embryos frozen in the way Thedeus was, said Beth Button, director of the Snowflakes Embryo Adoption Program. However, this embryo survived the process of thawing and implantation, which became a real breakthrough for cryomedicine.
This event once again confirms the limitless possibilities of modern reproductive science. Since the birth of the world’s first IVF baby in 1978, Louise Brown, more than 13 million such babies have been born. The latest technologies, such as maturation of eggs outside a woman’s body, have already made it possible to give birth to live and healthy children, and the case of Thedeus only reinforces the belief that what until recently seemed impossible is now becoming a reality.
