Twenty two years after a North Carolina man had his sperm frozen after being diagnosed with leukemia, his wife gave birth to their daughter, who was conceived with the frozen sample.

Chris Bilbis' sperm sample was stored in 1986, and the little girl was conceived when the sperm was implanted in his wife, Melody, in July 2008. That 22-year time lapse is a world record, the Times of London reported.

Chris and Melodie named the baby Stella, who was born in perfect health on March 4.

When 38-year-old Chris Biblis was 13, he was diagnosed with leukemia, and his doctors told him the radiation used to treat the disease would likely leave him sterile. He heeded his family's advice and stored a frozen sperm sample when he was 16, Fox News reported.

At the time Chris Biblis decided to store his sperm, the technique used to conceive Stella had not yet been developed. Doctors had to select the sperm cells that were still viable to implant into Melodie's egg. Only 35 percent of the cells were deemed able to affect conception after being frozen for so long, according to the Times.

Chris Biblis has been cancer-free for 20 years.