A baby boy born from a 30-year-old frozen embryo has shattered medical records and stirred global headlines, but for the Ohio couple at the heart of it, it was never about making history. They just wanted a child.
Thaddeus Daniel Pierce came into the world on a quiet Saturday, but his arrival is anything but ordinary. His embryo was frozen in 1994. Now, three decades later, he’s alive, healthy, and making headlines.
His parents, Lindsey (35) and Tim Pierce (34), from Ohio, had spent seven painful years battling infertility. What followed was a choice that sounds straight out of science fiction: adopting a frozen embryo older than both TikTok and Google.
“My family said it was like something from a sci-fi movie,” Lindsey told MIT Technology Review.
The Frozen Past That Came Alive
Thaddeus’ story traces back to 1994 when Linda Archerd, then 32, and her husband created four embryos via IVF. One became her daughter, who is now 30. The other three are frozen and waiting.
Life moved on. The couple divorced. But Linda couldn’t bring herself to discard the remaining embryos, donate them for research, or hand them off anonymously.
“I always wanted to be involved. That baby would be my daughter’s biological sibling,” she said.
So, she spent decades and thousands of dollars preserving the embryos in storage, waiting for the right moment. That moment came when she connected with Nightlight Christian Adoptions, a faith-based embryo adoption agency in the US running a programme called Snowflakes. The twist is that the donors pick the adoptive parents.
Linda was clear about her preferences: a married, Caucasian, Christian couple based in the United States.
No Plans to Make History, Just a Family
When the couple was matched with Linda, they weren’t trying to break world records. They just wanted to be parents.
“We weren’t out to make headlines. We just wanted to have a baby,” Lindsey said.
They got more than that. They got Thaddeus and with him, a page in medical history. According to reports, his birth marks the longest-known gap between embryo freezing and a live birth. The previous record was held by twins born in 2022 from embryos frozen in 1992.
The IVF transfer was done at Rejoice Fertility, a Tennessee-based clinic that accepts embryos regardless of how long they’ve been frozen. The clinic believes that every embryo has the potential to become life, regardless of age.
For Linda Archerd, this wasn’t just about giving an embryo a chance it was about completing a story she began 30 years ago.
Though she hasn’t met baby Thaddeus yet, she already sees striking similarities with her daughter.
“There’s a clear resemblance,” she told MIT Technology Review, marveling at the miracle unfolding decades after a petri dish held his first spark of life.
And for Thaddeus, he may never fully understand how long he waited to be born or how many lives he’s touched just by arriving.
WARNING: If You Are Not 18+, Don’t Click The Link Below 👇🫣
https://abnormalitylovingmammal.com/kx6iepv2qm?key=6c14bd1d68e1eba721851f19778f5efe
https://poawooptugroo.com/4/8902554
Please don’t forget to “Allow the notification” so you will be the first to get our gist when we publish it.
Drop your comment in the section below, and don’t forget to share the post.
Never Miss A Single News Or Gist, Kindly Join Us On WhatsApp Channel:
https://whatsapp.com/channel/0029Vad8g81Eawdsio6INn3B
Telegram Channel:
https://t.me/gistsmateNG
