Twenty-two years ago, when he was just 18 years old, the last thing on Mike Kuzminski's mind was fatherhood.
His only concern at that point was surviving the cancer that had taken hold in his young body, and getting through the life-saving radiation and chemotherapy treatment doctors had prescribed.
But a forward-thinking oncologist advised the young man to freeze his sperm because the treatment was likely to render him infertile.
Years later, Kuzminski and his wife have given birth to what they describe as their "miracle baby," conceived from the sperm that was frozen for 22 years, 2 months and 2 weeks.
"I'm blown away by how much you can love a thing. It's like a panic love," Kuzminski, now 43, told CTV's Canada AM. "I sometimes have scary scenarios in my head. Like, I can't keep my kid safe enough. I can't even come close."
Kuzminski and his wife Kristin, of Vancouver, B.C., shared their story on Canada AM on Thursday, speaking from Lethbridge, Alta.
The couple was married in 2003 ago under the assumption that children weren't in their future. Then Kuzminski's sister reminded him that he had made a deposit in a Calgary hospital all those years ago.
"It was touch and go there for a while. I had assumed that after 15 or 20 years the hospital had gotten rid of my sperm," he said.
But once he was able to contact the Calgary hospital where he had made the deposit, he learned that his sperm was still in storage -- and that he owed $2,000 in fees.
"Mike called me with the news after he found out and I believe there was a lot of tears," Kristin told Canada AM, holding her new son Jacek.
"Oh yeah, I had to pull over," Mike adds, remembering the moment.
Kristin had accepted the fact her dream of having a family wasn't likely to happen, but with the news "suddenly a whole bunch of doors opened to us and the possibility that we could have our own family."
Using a technique called intra-uterine insemination, the couple began attempting to conceive.
"It was the second attempt that finally produced this little guy," Kristin said. "It's a roller coaster. You hit the highest highs and the lowest lows. That first time it didn't take and you find out, you mourn. You're definitely going through a grieving process."
That grieving -- and the worry associated with knowing there was a limited amount of Kuzminski's sperm in storage -- turned to joy when the couple learned Kristin was pregnant.
"When we found out, oh my God! We just cried! We couldn't believe it," she said.
"All of a sudden, one part of you doesn't want to get your hopes up, but you're opened up to this possibility. My heart was racing....we could have a baby. Whoa!"
At the moment, the couple's energy is focused on their new son and they have decided not to decide -- at least for the moment -- whether they will try to have another child.
They have enough sperm left for 19 attempts, Kristin said.
"We tell people we have made the decision not to make that decision yet," she said.
"We're really just savouring this moment. He's so amazing, so incredible, and we love being a mom and dad so we might just run with this one for a while."
