Kerala parents welcome baby born from sperm frozen for nine years

A baby boy was born at Kerala’s Samad Hospital in Pattoor, Thiruvananthapuram, to a man whose sperm was frozen for nine years. The boy was born on January 8. However, the parents wished to remain unnamed, said Manorama News.
The man was just 18 when he chose to freeze his sperm after he was diagnosed with testicular cancer in 2016. Apparently, he decided to freeze the sperm when the doctors told him that the cancerous part had to be removed. He completely recovered after undergoing treatment for a long period and returned to normal life.

After he got married, the couple relied on IVF treatment to have a child. The birth of the baby is seen as a milestone in cancer treatment, too. Samad Hospital officials said special permissions is required to freeze the sperm beyond ten years.

Not just for cancer...
Sperm banking, or the freezing of sperm, is done for multiple reasons, though the most common one is cancer. This is because, after chemotherapy, there is a chance that the patient does not have any seminal fluid left to produce sperm. Surgeries like orchiectomy or the removal of testicles due to testicular cancer can also produce similar results. A few of the other reasons why sperm banking is advised, according to Johns Hopkins Medicine, are:

1) Occupation
Those who are on high-risk jobs like the military opt for the procedure before deployment or during service due to the nature of their occupation. If a job-related incident affects their health, their partners would be able to have children if quality sperm is preserved for later use.
2) Sperm retrieval after death
Up to 72 hours after death, sperm can be retrieved. In certain instances, family members decide to collect sperm from a deceased person for later use.
3) Age
Some people decide to freeze their sperm at a younger age as quality can diminish later.
4) Medications and procedures
Certain men who undergo testosterone therapy, sickle cell therapy or vasectomy choose to preserve their sperm as the treatment can affect the quality of their sperm.