# A daughter from an embryo frozen 22 years

> Months after losing their son, a Greek couple beat an age deadline by weeks to bring home a baby.
- Title: A daughter from an embryo frozen 22 years · ABC7 Chicago
- Summary: Months after losing their son, a Greek couple beat an age deadline by weeks to bring home a baby. An embryo frozen for 22 years produced a healthy birth, and…
- Keywords: ivf, fertility, greece, frozen embryos, birth rates, news, local, daughter, embryo, frozen, years, ABC7 Chicago
- Source: ABC7 Chicago — https://abc7chicago.com/post/frozen-embryo-transfer-cristina-raptitzelepi-constantinos-raptis-welcome-girl-22-years-athens-greece/19820156
- Published: 2026-09-11T17:17:00+00:00
- Read time: 1 min
- Topics: ivf, fertility, greece, frozen embryos, birth rates, news, local
## A second chance after loss
A Greek couple's 21-year-old son died in a road crash last October. Months later they decided to try for another child using an embryo she had frozen 22 years earlier.

> We decided to give life a second chance, to make a new start, bring new life into our home and keep our family's story going.
## Two months to beat the law
Cristina Rapti-Tzelepi, now 54, was almost past Greece's 54-year age limit for completing IVF and getting national approval. She had weeks, not years.

> I only had a 2-month window.
## Born on Wednesday in Athens
The girl arrived weighing 3.49 kilograms, 7 pounds 11 ounces. By Friday the hospital room was full of pink balloons and flowers.
## 22 years on ice
Two decades is an unusually long freeze for an embryo that goes on to produce a pregnancy. Last year an Ohio couple beat it, using one frozen over 30 years.
## The doctor wants the law changed
Dr. Kostas Pantos, who heads the Hellenic Society of Reproductive Medicine, points to Greece's falling birth rate and calls the cutoff too rigid.

> The law is very strict: 54 plus one day is not allowed. Maybe it's time for it to change.
## A father pulled out of the dark
Constantinos Raptis, 60, held his sleeping daughter on his shoulder and credited the doctor with giving his family a reason to keep going.

> He took us by the hand and pulled us out of our deepest darkness.
## Named for her brother
They called her Georgia, after their late son Giorgos, who was also born through IVF. They haven't ruled out another child, possibly by traveling abroad.
## Key takeaway

An embryo frozen for 22 years produced a healthy birth, and Greece's hard 54-year IVF cutoff nearly made it impossible.