Late Parenthood: Australian doctor John Levin has rewritten the rules of fatherhood at 92. Now 93, he his 37-year-old wife Dr Yanying Lu welcomed a baby boy, Gabby, in February last year.
Gabby is Dr Levin’s third child, born five months before his eldest son, Greg, 65, died from motor neurone disease.
A general practitioner and anti-ageing specialist, Dr Levin met Dr Lu in an unlikely setting: a Mandarin classroom. Hoping to ease the loneliness after losing his first wife of 57 years, he began learning Mandarin. Dr Lu was his teacher.
“He was a terrible student. After the third lesson, I told him to stop. I did not want to rip him off!” she recalled, according to news.com.au.
But the sparks did not fizzle. The two stayed in touch, and a dinner date turned into a romance that culminated in a Las Vegas wedding in 2014.
Parenthood was not on their wish list immediately. It was only during the COVID-19 lockdowns that the conversation arose. Dr Lu said she did some ‘soul searching’ and realised she wanted a child, even if it meant carrying a part of her husband into the future.
Gabby came into the world thanks to In Vitro Fertilisation (IVF) and donor sperm, with Dr Lu conceiving on the first try.
Dr Levin described the moment he held his newborn son as “unbelievable”, while Dr Lu quipped that her husband is a “very old-fashioned” dad who “did not change nappies”.
The age gap raises eyebrows. Many assume Dr Levin is Gabby’s grandfather. “When we explain, they cannot contain their surprise. But for us, it is about the choices that make us happy. We cannot control how other people feel,” said Dr Lu.
Age, it seems, has not slowed Dr Levin down. He hopes to witness all of Gabby’s milestones, from his bar mitzvah to his 21st birthday, proving that parenthood knows no expiration date.