In an astonishing medical feat, a couple in the United States welcomed twins born from embryos frozen for 30 years, marking a new world record. The twins, named Lydia and Timothy Ridgeway, were born on October 31, 2022, from embryos that had been frozen on April 22, 1992, and donated for adoption.
The National Embryo Donation Center (NEDC) confirmed that Lydia and Timothy are the longest-frozen embryos to result in a live birth. The Ridgeway couple, already parents to four children, expressed immense joy over the arrival of the twins, who were born weighing 2.5 and 2.92 kilograms, respectively.
This remarkable event was made possible through in vitro fertilization (IVF), where extra embryos from another couple, who had undergone the procedure 30 years prior, were preserved at minus 200 degrees Celsius. When the Ridgeways decided to expand their family, they chose embryos from the “special consideration” category, which refers to embryos that are typically harder to place with recipient families.
Interestingly, the twins’ father was only five years old when the embryos were originally frozen. Philip Ridgeway, the twins’ father, shared his awe at the situation, stating, “We weren’t chasing the record for the world’s longest-frozen embryos. We simply wanted the ones waiting the longest. It turned out to be an incredible thing. In a way, they are the youngest members of our family, yet also the oldest.”
Before the Ridgeways’ twins, the record was held by Molly Gibson, born in 2020 from an embryo frozen for approximately 27 years. With the birth of Lydia and Timothy, the Ridgeways not only celebrated the expansion of their family but also highlighted the remarkable possibilities of modern reproductive technologies.
