It was a long, hard road for Saul Alvarez to father his second child.

Alvarez lost his first child — a daughter — and her mother in a drunk driving accident. He was later diagnosed with cancer twice, and started thinking about having another child after he got married again.

Chemotherapy ended up being a problem, Alvarez said.

“I was told I was never gonna be able to have kids,” Alvarez said. “My sperm count went from being healthy to being completely at zero — that was a big shock for me." 

Alvarez was in his mid-50s, and male infertility specialist Ranjith Ramasamy says that after age 40, a man's sperm begins to mutate.

“The number of mutations in sperm continue to accumulate that are more genetic changes that you know the body doesn't correct anymore,” Ramasamy said.

The most common conditions associated with advanced paternal age are neuropsychiatric disorders. There is also an increased risk for leukemia and lymphomas.

A 2021 study found that when a male in a couple was over 40, there were 20 to 40 percent more miscarriages.

Ramasamy used medications used in women to boost egg counts to boost hormones in the pituitary glands and testosterone levels in Alvarez.

After a year and a half of fertility treatments, Alvarez fathered a second child — Alexander Rama Alvarez.

Alvarez is now in full remission from his cancer, and is not ruling out the possibility of adding to his family.

Ramasamy says it's just as important for men as it is for women to think about fertility preservation in their 20s. Frozen sperm is good for up to 15 years after its initial freeze, and the recovery rates for a sperm after being frozen is up to 95%.

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