Via Freepik
On July 26, 2025, Thaddeus Daniel Pierce was born in Ohio from an embryo frozen for over 30 years, marking a record for the longest-frozen embryo leading to a live birth, as reported by MIT Technology Review.
Lindsey and Tim Pierce adopted the embryo through Nightlight Christian Adoptions’ Snowflakes program. The embryo, created in 1994, originated from biological mother Linda Archerd via IVF.
In the early 1990s, Archerd and her then-husband faced infertility for six years before turning to IVF, a then-emerging technology, according to the BBC.
They produced four embryos, with one implanted to become Archerd’s now-30-year-old daughter, who has a 10-year-old child. The remaining three were cryopreserved, with Archerd paying annual storage fees of about $1,000.
After her marriage ended and she reached menopause, Archerd, now 62, chose not to discard the embryos or donate them for research.
As a Christian, she opted for embryo adoption to have input on the adoptive parents. She specified preferences for a married, Caucasian, Christian couple in the US.
Lindsey Pierce, 35, and Tim Pierce, 34, had tried for seven years to conceive before exploring embryo adoption. They registered with the Snowflakes program, open to various embryo criteria.
The match occurred in 2022 after Archerd provided medical records, some handwritten, for verification.
Nightlight Christian Adoptions facilitated the process through its Snowflakes initiative, which treats embryos as unique lives, similar to snowflakes.
The program requires a home study and background checks for adopters. Once matched, adoptive parents assume full ownership under property law, with biological parents relinquishing rights.
The embryo transfer took place at Rejoice Fertility Clinic in Knoxville, Tennessee, in November 2024. Dr. John Gordon, a reproductive endocrinologist, handled the procedure, thawing the old embryos despite challenges like outdated storage methods.
Of two transferred embryos, one developed into Thaddeus, born after 11,148 days in storage.
Lindsey described Thaddeus as “chill” and the experience as surreal, like a sci-fi movie.
Archerd noted Thaddeus resembles his biological sister as a baby, expressing joy at the sibling connection. She has not met him yet but hopes to, despite the distance.
This birth surpasses previous records, including twins from 30-year-old embryos in 2022. Few agencies handle such aged embryos due to viability concerns from long-term storage. Advances in cryopreservation have improved success rates over decades.
In the US, an estimated 400,000 to 1.5 million embryos remain frozen from IVF procedures. IVF accounts for about 2% of births nationwide. In the UK, IVF births rose from 1.3% in 2000 to 3.1% in 2023.
Embryo adoption offers an alternative for unused embryos, allowing biological parents to select families. Programs like Snowflakes have enabled thousands of such adoptions since 1997.
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