World's oldest mother, 66, who lied about her age to get IVF, is 'stricken by cancer'

[Honey]

Dreams come true: Pictured here with her twins shortly after their birth, Carmen says she always wanted children


After becoming the world's oldest mother at the age of 66, Carmen Bousada brushed off criticism by saying she was as fit as she had ever been.




But yesterday, with her twin boys less than three weeks from their first birthday, she admitted that her health has taken a severe turn for the worse.
Miss Bousada said she was being treated for "a very serious illness" - reported to be cancer - raising the possibility that her babies will be left as orphans.

The retired shop worker, now 67, has never married and has no partner. News of her condition yesterday reignited the debate about pensioner mothers.

Miss Bousada, who comes from Spain, travelled to the US, where she lied about her age - saying that she was 55 - to receive IVF treatment at the Pacific Fertility Center in Los Angeles.
She gave birth to Christian and Pau in Barcelona on December 29 last year. Scroll down for more...
Out and about: Miss Bousada takes the babies for a stroll around Cadiz

Read more...

• Anger as Dutch couple give up Korean girl, 7, they adopted as baby over 'failure to fit in'

Carmen Bousada with her twins: She lied about her age to receive IVF


Yesterday she told a Spanish television show: "I have been presented with an illness, a very serious illness."


She would not reveal what it was but added: "It is one which is fashionable at the moment."
Some observers said this suggested either breast cancer - of which Kylie Minogue was a victim - or intestinal cancer, which is afflicting Farrah Fawcett.
Miss Bousada added: "I am having treatment and that, but I'm well. The little ones are beautiful, very chubby, very big.
"I have a girl who helps me look after the children. I am always there for them. I always have help."
She said if she dies the children will be looked after by her nephew or their godfather, whom she did not name.

She added: "They are not going to be alone. But come on, I'm not thinking at the moment that I'm going to (die)."

There was media speculation that Miss Bousada had been diagnosed with cancer "a few months ago".

Miss Bousada, who now lives in a two-bedroom flat above a supermarket near Cadiz in southern Spain, went through the menopause 18 years before her £20,000 treatment. Scroll down for more...
Debate reignited: The world's oldest mother Carmen Bousada has reportedly been diagnosed with cancer



She decided to have children after her mother Eugenia, whom she cared for in her old age, died aged 101 in 2005.
Miss Bousada has faced widespread criticism since her children were born, but she said yesterday: "I know the children will be looked after.
"This illness is not like it was a few years ago. It is not the same. There have been many advances."
Last night, Josephine Quintavalle, director of the campaign group Comment on Reproductive Ethics, said: "Providing IVF for women who are past the age of reproduction makes no sense whatsoever."

World's oldest mother, 66, who lied about her age to get IVF, is 'stricken by cancer' | the Daily Mail

[Elvira]

That's sad, but cancer can strike at any age.

[AliceInWonderland]

yeah i hope she beats it. for the childrens sake!

[Karistiona]

Yikes having kids at 65 is a bit odd if you ask me. Hope she beats whatever disease she has and continues to be able to care for her kids well into um...old age...

[A*O]

This is what happens when old ladies have babies. The doctor who agreed to her IVF treatment should raise these kids when their ancient mother carks it.