Life frozen in time

A growing number of men who want to be fathers are using sperm banks to preserve fertility

For a man who is about to die, it is perhaps the ultimate attempt at self-preservation. "Even if I must depart," the reasoning goes, "my progeny will endure."

But just as storing sperm can, in some places, be a measure aimed at preempting death, it can also act as insurance against the inability to father children. One example is someone who is on the verge of being given medical treatment such as chemotherapy for cancer that risks rendering them infertile.