At 92, Australian doctor becomes father to baby boy with 37-year-old wife

Dr John Levin, now 93, and his 37-year-old wife, Dr Yany­ing Lu, wel­comed their son, Gab­by, in Feb­ru­ary 2024.

Age is often said to be just a num­ber — and for Aus­tralian doc­tor John Levin, that couldn’t be more true. At 92 years old, Dr. Levin became a father once again, wel­com­ing a baby boy named Gab­by with his 37-year-old wife, Dr. Yany­ing Lu

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Gab­by was born in Feb­ru­ary 2024, accord­ing to news.com.au, mak­ing head­lines across Aus­tralia and beyond. What makes the sto­ry even more remark­able is that Levin’s new chap­ter of father­hood came just months before a deeply emo­tion­al loss — the pass­ing of his eldest son, Greg, 65, who died from motor neu­rone dis­ease only five months after Gabby’s birth.

A Love Story That Began in the Classroom

Dr. Levin, now 93, is a gen­er­al prac­ti­tion­er and a spe­cial­ist in anti-age­ing med­i­cine. After los­ing his wife of 57 years, he found him­self bat­tling lone­li­ness and search­ing for pur­pose in his lat­er years. That’s when he decid­ed to do some­thing unex­pect­ed — learn a new lan­guage.

He chose Man­darin, and fate intro­duced him to his lan­guage teacher, Dr. Yany­ing Lu. What start­ed as an attempt to keep his mind active and meet new peo­ple quick­ly turned into some­thing life-chang­ing.

“He was a ter­ri­ble stu­dent,” Dr. Lu laughed in an inter­view with news.com.au. “After the third les­son, I told him to stop. I didn’t want to rip him off!”

Despite her hon­est feed­back, the two stayed in touch. Friend­ly con­ver­sa­tions turned into din­ners, and din­ners into a deep con­nec­tion. Even­tu­al­ly, the unlike­ly pair — sep­a­rat­ed by more than five decades in age — tied the knot in Las Vegas in 2014.

Parenthood in Their Own Time

For years, the cou­ple didn’t dis­cuss hav­ing chil­dren. It wasn’t until the qui­et reflec­tion of the COVID-19 lock­downs that Dr. Lu began to think about their future and what lega­cy she want­ed to car­ry for­ward.

“I did some soul-search­ing,” she explained. “If I lost my hus­band, I want­ed a part of him to stay with me — in the form of a child.”

The cou­ple turned to IVF using donor sperm, and on their very first attempt, Dr. Lu became preg­nant. When Gab­by was born, Dr. Levin says the expe­ri­ence was “unbe­liev­able.”

Breaking Stereotypes and Living Fully

While many might find their sit­u­a­tion uncon­ven­tion­al, the cou­ple says they focus on hap­pi­ness rather than judg­ment. Dr. Lu admits that their sto­ry often “gives peo­ple headaches.”

“Many assume John is the grand­fa­ther,” she said. “When we explain, they can’t con­tain their sur­prise. But for us, it’s about the choic­es that make us hap­py. We can’t con­trol how oth­er peo­ple feel.”

Levin may be an old­er dad, but he’s full of hope and deter­mi­na­tion. He calls him­self a “very old-fash­ioned” father — one who doesn’t change nap­pies — but he’s deeply proud and emo­tion­al­ly con­nect­ed to his young son.

Looking Ahead With Optimism

At 93, Dr. Levin isn’t slow­ing down. He con­tin­ues to work as a doc­tor, dri­ven by his pas­sion for health and longevi­ty. And when it comes to father­hood, he has ambi­tious dreams.

He says he hopes to see Gab­by grow up, cel­e­brate his bar mitz­vah, and even reach his 21st birth­day.

Whether or not he achieves those mile­stones, Dr. Levin’s sto­ry is already an inspir­ing tes­ta­ment to the pow­er of love, resilience, and the human spir­it — proof that it’s nev­er too late to start a new chap­ter, no mat­ter your age.