The Spanish woman who became the world’s oldest mother at the age of 66 has died from cancer, leaving her twin sons orphaned. Maria Carmen del Bousada was diagnosed with cancer a year after giving birth to Cristian and Pau. She died at a hospital near Cadiz on Saturday aged 69.
Her two-year-old twins will be left to the care of the family and are unlikely to retain many memories of their mother.
The Diario de Cadiz newspaper reported that Ms Bousada was diagnosed with a tumour before she gave birth at a clinic in Barcelona in December 2006.
A former shop worker, she travelled to the US to undergo in vitro fertilisation treatment costing £30,000.
Later, she admitted that she lied to doctors about her age, saying she was only 55 to get round age limits at the Los Angeles clinic.
The birth provoked condemnation in Spain, from fertility experts and even from her own family.
“My mother would turn in her grave if she knew what my sister has done," said her brother Manuel Bousada de Lara, 73. "She would ask: ‘How are you going to bring up two boys at your age?’’
Before the birth, which was premature and by Caesarean section, she only told most of the family she had gone to America, failing to mention it was for intensive in vitro fertilisation.
The care of the twins is likely to be entrusted to a younger generation of the family, possibly the boys’ cousins, who are thought to be in their 30s or 40s.
Ricardo Bousada confirmed his sister’s death but refused to disclose the exact cause.
After the controversial birth, Ms Bousada insisted that she did not want to talk to the media to protect her sons.
But after she struck a financial deal with the News of the World, she told the newspaper: “I have always wanted to be a mother all my life, but I have never had the opportunity or met the right man.
"My mother lived to 101 years-old and I have every reason to believe longevity runs in my family."
Though she told the newspaper she felt healthy and predicted she would see her sons live into adulthood, she must have known she was suffering from a tumour.
She later told a Spanish television programme that she was suffering from cancer. It was thought she suffered from breast cancer.
Ms Bousada said the drugs used during her fertility treatment may have helped the disease spread. But she insisted she had no regrets.
The reaction in Spain to the birth was generally hostile. On cartoon in the Spanish daily El Mundo showed a mother pushing a Zimmer frame while her child asks for dinner.
Today the news of Ms Bousada’s death provoked much reaction in Spain where the family is a strong institution.
One anonymous reader wrote to El Mundo saying: “This woman for her own ego and lack of common sense did not think that these two children would have to defend themselves very soon. I hope they do not suffer the consequences of such an irresponsible decision.”
Another said: “Most women live to 80. It wasn’t likely she was going to live to see her sons over the age of about 13. It is barbarous what she has done.”
The oldest woman to have given birth is believed to be Omkari Panwar, from India, who had a twin boy and girl in July 2009. She claimed to be 70, although she had no birth certificate.
Britain's oldest mother is Elizabeth Adeney, from Lindgate in Suffolk, who gave birth to a son in May at the age of 66.
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