A THRILLED Stockport couple are expecting a new baby, created from sperm frozen 19 years ago.

Emmanuel and Zoe Iyoha hit the headlines in 2006 when their daughter Poppy arrived after IVF treatment with the 1989 sperm kept on ice at St Mary’s fertility clinic.

Now Zoe is pregnant again and is as delighted as her husband, who had the sample frozen after he was diagnosed with cancer.

The Stockport PCT IT support engineer was diagnosed with Hodgkins Lymphoma and a tumour on his spleen when he was 27.

Christie Hospital experts told him chemotherapy would leave him infertile but he survived, married Trinity High teacher Zoe in 2002 and, at 46, is looking forward to his second child.

"We owe it all to science and the wonderful care and support of the staff at Christie’s and St Mary’s," he said.

"It was the Christie nurses who persuaded me that it was something I should do and I will be forever grateful to them for this miracle. They must have seen within me the father-in-waiting. At the time, I was far more preoccupied with the cancer."

Freezing has a low success rate and it took the Reddish couple 12 attempts, sadly including one miscarriage, to have Poppy.

But this time round, Zoe fell pregnant on just the fourth treatment. "It’s incredible," said Emmanuel, now in remission after a relapse in 1995.

"They say every time a sample is thawed, it’s as fresh as if it were brand new."

St Mary’s hold seven more samples in the freezer, but the Iyoha’s are quite happy to be adding just the one to their Harrogate Road family, including Zoe’s nine-year-old son Daniel... for the moment.

"We’re certainly pretty unlikely to have an unplanned pregnancy after two bouts of chemo," said Emmanuel. He added that he and Zoe are content to wait to discover the sex of the new addition.

"We did the same with Poppy," he said. "It’s nice to be surprised - we’re old fashioned like that."

The baby - due in July - will hold the UK record for a baby born from sperm frozen for the longest time. The world record is from a 21-year-old sample.

Emmanuel has been inspired by the care he received to become a Christie fundraiser. He trekked to the Everest base camp in 2006, raising £5,500, and raised thousands more by taking part in the Manchester to Blackpool bike ride.