Thursday, December 30, 2010

A dad at 94

Geez whiz! a dad at 94


December 30, 2010

It's never too late to start a family.

A 94-year-old Indian man -- who relies on a high-fat diet -- claims he's the world's oldest new dad after his wife gave birth last month to their first child.

"This child is God's gift to me," Ramjit Raghav said of the baby, Karamjit.

He said the secret of his miraculous virility was being in shape as a wrestler in his youth and adhering to a remarkable nuts-and-dairy diet.

Raghav said he drinks about 3½ quarts of milk a day, and eats a pound of almonds and a pound of clarified butter, which is known as ghee in India.

Doctors confirmed that his wife, Shankuntala Devi, had a normal delivery -- at age 59. They said the baby boy is healthy.

"Having babies at such age is a remote possibility, but then it can't be ruled out as it just needs one sperm to fertilize the egg," said Dr. Paramjeet Singh, at Kharkhoda Civil Hospital, where the child was born.

Raghav is a farmer in a northern Indian village about 50 miles from New Delhi.

He and his wife own no land and manage to get by with the two cows they own, a government pension and about $100 a month in wages from farming.

Pension records confirm that Raghav is 94.

The title of world's oldest dad was last set three years ago by another Indian, Nanu Ram Jogi, who sired his 22nd child at 90.

andy.soltis@nypost.com

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