Oldest mother has no regrets

The world's oldest mother yesterday said she had no regrets, despite the fact she is in the centre of an international controversy over her "miracle child".

Mrs Arceli Keh, now 64, gave birth on 7 November, when she was 63, to her daughter, Cynthia. Speaking from her home in Highland, California, she defended her decision to have a child so late in life, saying: "I would do it all over again if the doctors would let me. My husband and I would love to have a second child.

"I intend to to be around for a long time. A number of people in my family have lived well into their nineties, so I've got very good genes. I plan on devoting every minute of my life to this little bundle of joy - and because I am retired I can do that, which some working mothers cannot do."

She and her 61-year-old husband Isagani, originally from the Phillipines, began trying to have a natural child when she was 47, soon after they married in l980.

The following year, she was told there was no chance of a child.

So, lying about her age, she signed up for in vitro fertilisation t the University of California in l993 - five years past the age set by doctors as an upper limit for the treatment, which cost pounds 20,000 and succeeded after five attempts.

Kim Sengupta