DawgTalkers.net Forums DawgTalk Everything Else... Woman, 26, gives birth to baby who spent 24 years as frozen embryo

Woman, 26, gives birth to baby who spent 24 years as frozen embryo

Lauren Castle
Published: December 19, 2017, 10:55 am





KNOXVILLE, Tenn. (WATE) – An East Tennessee woman delivered the longest-frozen embryo to successfully come to birth, according to the University of Tennessee Preston Medical Library.

The National Embryo Donation Center (NEDC) says baby Emma Wren was born Nov. 25 to Benjamin and Tina Gibson.

Emma was cryopreserved in 1992 before being transferred to Tina’s uterus earlier this year through frozen embryo transfer. Emma was conceived around eighteen months after Tina, 26, was born.

“Emma is such a sweet miracle,” said Benjamin. “I think she looks pretty perfect to have been frozen all those years ago.”

NEDC Medical Director Dr. Jeffrey Kennan hopes the story will lead to more couples who have embryos in long-term storage to consider donation to help more families.

The center’s embryo adoption program has led to around 700 pregnancies. The center works to protect the lives of frozen embryos.

“It is deeply moving and highly rewarding to see that embryos frozen 24.5 years ago using the old, early cryopreservation techniques of slow freezing on day one of development at the pronuclear stage can result in 100 percent survival of the embryos with a 100 percent continued proper development to the day-3 embryo stage.” said NEDC Lab Director Carol Sommerfelt.

“I will always remember what the Gibsons said when presented with the picture of their embryos at the time of transfer; ‘These embryos could have been my best friends,’ as Tina herself was only 25 at the time of transfer,” Sommerfelt continued.

http://wishtv.com/2017/12/19/woman-26-gives-birth-to-baby-who-spent-24-years-as-frozen-embryo/


I think this story is fascinating on a number of levels. And I want to discuss them. I almost posted this in the political forum but I think it fits here better, refs if you disagree move it.

First, this is a major win for science! Imagine a world without science...

Second is a question directed to the Christians or other religions on the board. If this child was conceived 24 years ago, how old is she when she was born? And if life begins at conception, and the soul is there then, is this proof a soul can be frozen for 24 years?

Is a day one embryo just genetic building material?

Can this science evolve into a viable form of long term stasis for space travel or even time travel (forward)?

I think this is a miracle, not in the religious sense but in the scientific sense. What do y'all think?

I think we have to go with "birth age" until we know the lifespan of the individual. If, for example, she dies of old age in her 40's, that could be an indicator that aging begins at conception. However, if organs begin breaking down at the beginning of "use" and she lives to a ripe old age (barring accident or other early check out) then we'll know (well someone will, not me, I'll be gone) that aging is put "on hold" until birth. Regarding soul, who's to say the soul isn't something that is developed over time like balance or intelligence. Was Hitler born evil? Did he have an evil soul? Nature -vs- nurture. Who knows.



Is a kernel of corn a stalk of corn?



I would think, yes. Viability over two dozen years is reason for optimism in that arena.



I think it was only a matter of time. Miracles and magic are unexplained science and physics, IMHO. This is definitely a scientific breakthrough. The fact that there was no loss in viability, and no perceivable (at least to this point) degradation is a testimony to the technology.

I'm not a religious person, but I am a spiritual one. I believe in Karmic Law, I believe in an afterlife, and I believe we have souls, but I have very little patience or use for manmade doctrine or dogma. Historically, it has always been a control mechanism. To take that a step further, every divisive construct (religion, politics, racial & sexual prejudice, borders, etc.) are manmade, and by their nature harmful. IMO, religion has nothing to do with any of this.

Again, JMHO.

This would be a better question for the Chinese than for Christians, I'm pretty sure they are among the few who count your birthday as the day you were conceived.. I'm not aware of any specific religions that do that and I've never heard of Christians doing it... maybe some do.

And I thought I'd never get to use this video.

My life is somehow a little richer after that... lol

cool

That's what they should have named the baby!

I was thinking they should've named her Elsa.

You just knew somebody had to do this

The baby has been on the Earth the same amount of time as the mother.

That's crazy. The more you think about this, the tougher it is to wrap your head around it.

"They unthawed three "snowbabies," all of them adopted from the same anonymous donor. Surprisingly, all three survived. Normally, there's about a 75% survival rate when unthawing frozen embryos.

Though they transferred all three to Tina, only one implanted. This is normal, since successful implantation rate "normally runs about 25% to 30%," she said."

But if life begins at conception, then the fetus would have made 24 cycles around the sun, thus her age, her time on Earth, would be 24. The date she was born on is inconsequential.

Most people count you ur age as your birthday though... not from the time you're conceived... my wife's and I had to use a surrogate to have my boys,,, so this doesn't really floor me like I've seen others on Facebook... my second son was frozen as an embryo...

Also, some chrisitans believe life starts at conception but not all... I actually believe 'life' happens when the baby's heart starts pumping blood... so while I believe yes thwt embryo is going to turn into a baby I don't think it actually does until that baby's heart starts to beat... but maybe that's njust me...

I guess the term 'birthday' wold have to coincide with the date of one's birth, or they'd call it something else.

Life does start at conception. Otherwise it would never grow. A heartbeat just means the heart has formed. The thing I've always been interested in is when does consiousness start.

Your correct Erik we don't celebrate conception day.

But we're not talking about birthday or conception date. We're talking about age, rotations around the sun.

Well in that case lets discuss how old Ted Williams head is

I would not count the years spent in a frozen embryonic state.. if this becomes more common, I suppose they can come up with a second date or term to cover that...

Their is no reason to disassociate their age with their date of birth.

This is a scam by the not yet born to get more than one present day a year.

I agree. However, there would be a reason if people believed that life started at conception.

I did. Those were some good times.

Life does start at conception. We celebrate birthdays because they're momentous occasions. It's also really hard (pun not intended) to pin down thee exact day of conception.

BTW, are you just being contrary, or trying to make a point?

If life starts at conception then the baby would be 24 years old as it's been alive for 24 years, right? No one is talking about birthdays and conception days besides you guys. I have had no part in that conversation, besides saying that they don't matter.

No, it wouldn't be 24 years old. The embryo was kept in frozen suspension during that time, and did not physically age. If you did DNA age testing, the kid would show to be brand new.

I think we're kind of going in circles. The original question was how old the baby was. Someone earlier made a good point that how many birthdays you count is one measure of age, but in this case, it might not line up with the actual age of the baby. You can state that it didn't age at all when it was frozen, but I think it'll be interesting to see if this baby doesn't have some age-related abnormalities in the future.

It would be interesting. I'm sure the kid will be studied.

But this discussion has gotten silly, and it's time for the next subject.

Can embryos get freezer burned, and would you still used them?

You can’t get freezer burn if you vacuum seal it with, Embryo Seal! Order yours today.

That is an interesting way to gauge time.

You were just a little squirt back then

Nope it's a scam so they can retire 41 years after they are born

For some reason the girl is always late.

quote above by OldCold:



Almost certainly space travel.

With it humans could make it to other stars.

If we don't kill ourselves and if we continue to progress like we have for the last 300 years, humans will go to other stars.

Not to worry, the stars are safe. My monies on killing ourselves.

I say the evil sea cows will rise up and kill us all first.

I was talking about making kids, not being one.

Not for a long time. It's much easier to freeze a small group of cells than an entire body without damage.

I was actually thinking frozen embryos.

If they can freeze a human embryo for 25 years, I think man can go to other stars right now.

Right?

If it was forced.

Let's say everybody on Earth is going to die.

A select few can choose to die on the way to the nearest star instead.

Couldn't we build a very large ship with the expectation of multi-generations of humans?

The astronauts that leave Earth can bring the frozen embryos to life in ~ 25 years. (at least one astronaut would have to be a young girl).

They could raise and teach the children.

And let's say this would have to be repeated on the ship every ~ 25 years.

You do know that many explorers died on explorations.

Vasco da Gama discovered trade route to India via sea around Cape of Good Hope.

I think 2/3rds of his men died during the exploration.

Human's will do what it takes.

Let's call it human destiny.

And no, I didn't just come from the BOURBON! thread.