Lauren Cohen, was nearly 60 years old when she gave birth to twins, a boy and a girl, in 2006.
For the mom of two from Paramus, New Jersey, it should have been a joyous time adding two more children to her brood, but little did she know how her oldest daughter would react.
Lauren was divorced from her first husband of two years when she met Frank Garcia at a dancing class in New Jersey in 2002.
Even though he was 20 years her junior, the two instantly fell in love and wanted to build a future together.
“I never thought he could be interested in a woman so much older. He was a great dancer so I asked him to dance one night and he said yes,” Lauren said.
They married in July 2002, but soon afterward Lauren was aware that her husband was keen to have a family and wanted him to have that experience.
The couple looked into IVF to start a family but many doctors turned her away because of her age. In January 2004, she was accepted by a clinic in Virginia but they experienced the heartbreak of four failed rounds of IVF.
It was then that a doctor in New Jersey agreed to help, and the couple became pregnant. In December 2004, the couple welcomed their first girl, Raquel, via IVF. Less than a year after Raquel’s birth, Lauren discovered she was expecting twins.
On May 22, 2006, Lauren was close to her 60th birthday when she delivered twins, Gregory and Giselle, via IVF using donor eggs.
“I don’t feel like a record holder. Except for arthritis, I’m in excellent shape,” she told PEOPLE.
Lauren became the oldest mother in the U.S. to bear twins and her accomplishment equals the world record set by an unidentified British woman on Christmas Day 1993, as per PEOPLE.
With three young children, Lauren made it her top priority to stay as healthy as possible with the dream to see her children attend college.
In addition to doing pilates and yoga, the mom-of-four said she took nearly 100 supplements every week to stay fit.
“I’ll do whatever it takes to live as long as I can,” she says. “I’ve set a target of seeing them through college. I’ve got to keep going for 17 years – until I’m 81.
It wasn’t easy for Lauren being an older mom; people used to mistake her for being her children’s grandmother but worse her oldest daughter Renee disowned her, as per the Mirror newspaper.
Despite not being able to see her daughter and granddaughter she and her husband are thankful for the three children they have together.