By Sandra White
In 1987, cancer sufferer Wayne Kuhn froze his sperm — now it’s delivered him a baby daughter.
Little Elouise Kuhn was in such a hurry to get her name in the record books she arrived eight days early — 21 years after her dad’s sperm had been frozen!
With sperm having an expected shelf life of seven years, Elouise’s conception has experts in a spin. A UK fertility specialist is “99.9 per cent certain this is the longest-frozen sperm to result in a baby anywhere in the world”.
As she sleeps at her family’s home in Zadows Landing, on the banks of the Murray River in SA, Elouise’s dad Wayne and mum Kelly tell their remarkable story.
Wayne, now 42, was diagnosed with cancer when he was just 21. After a football accident put him in hospital, doctors discovered he was riddled with the disease. Before they operated, they advised Wayne to freeze some sperm as chemotherapy could end his chances of becoming a father.
The news soon got even worse.
“After a major operation to remove tumours from my lungs, kidneys and a testicle, doctors told me I had only three weeks to three months to live,” Wayne says.
“I began chemotherapy, determined to prove them wrong, so I could have children one day.”
A business liaison manager, Wayne has been cancer-free for 15 years. And all the time he paid $200 a year to keep his sperm in storage in liquid nitrogen …
For the full story, see this week’s Woman’s Day (on sale July 7).
Related stories
Native ad body.
Native ad body.
Native ad body.
