In a heartwarming and history-making moment, Thaddeus Daniel Pierce, a baby boy from Ohio, has become the world’s oldest frozen embryo to result in a live birth, after spending 30 years in cryogenic storage.
But for his parents, Lindsey and Tim Pierce, the journey was never about breaking records—it was about finally becoming a family.
Born on a quiet Saturday earlier this year, Thaddeus has since made international headlines for a medical feat that reads like a science fiction story. His embryo was frozen in 1994, predating the birth of Google, TikTok, and even the Xbox console.
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“My family said it was like something from a sci-fi movie,” Lindsey, 35, said in an interview with MIT Technology Review.
Thaddeus’ story began three decades ago when Linda Archerd, then 32, and her husband underwent in vitro fertilization (IVF) and created four embryos. One became their daughter, now 30. The remaining three were preserved in frozen storage, waiting for a future that no one could predict.
After her divorce, Linda faced a difficult emotional choice: discard the embryos, donate them anonymously, or keep them. She chose the latter.
“I always wanted to be involved,” Linda explained. “That baby would be my daughter’s biological sibling.”
Over the next 30 years, she paid thousands of dollars in storage fees while waiting for the right family. Eventually, she connected with Nightlight Christian Adoptions, a faith-based agency in the U.S. running an embryo adoption program called Snowflakes, which uniquely allows donors to select the adoptive family.
Linda outlined her wishes clearly: a married, Christian, Caucasian couple living in the U.S. Through Snowflakes, she met Lindsey and Tim Pierce, who had endured seven painful years of infertility.
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“We weren’t out to make headlines. We just wanted to have a baby,” Lindsey said.
The couple agreed to adopt one of the embryos and underwent a transfer at Rejoice Fertility, a Tennessee-based clinic known for accepting embryos regardless of how long they’ve been frozen.
According to medical experts, Thaddeus’ birth sets a new record, surpassing the previous milestone set in 2022 by twins born from embryos frozen in 1992.
Although Linda has yet to meet baby Thaddeus, she says she already sees remarkable similarities between him and her daughter.
“There’s a clear resemblance,” she said. “It’s surreal to see that something created in a petri dish 30 years ago is now a living, breathing baby.”
For Linda, Thaddeus represents the closing of a chapter that began decades earlier—a legacy of hope, patience, and faith in science.
For Lindsey and Tim, the birth of Thaddeus is not just a personal miracle—it’s a testament to perseverance, technology, and the enduring human desire to build a family.
“He may never know how long he waited to be born,” Lindsey reflected, “but his story is already touching lives.”
As science continues to redefine the boundaries of reproductive medicine, Thaddeus’ arrival serves as a symbol of possibility, compassion, and the incredible ways that life can begin—even after 30 years on ice.