Parents of a US military cadet who died last month want to save his sperm in order to continue his legacy and family’s lineage

A cadet at the US Military Academy sustained fatal injuries in a ski accident last month and a few days later, a state Supreme Court judge granted his parents’ petition to save their son’s sperm in order to continue his legacy and their family lineage.

21-year-old Peter Zhu was found unresponsive on a ski slope on the academy grounds in upstate New York on February 23, according to a school news release. He was airlifted to Westchester Medical Center, where doctors determined that Zhu’s spinal cord was fractured, and he was declared medically brain-dead three days later.

Zhu’s parents, Yongmin and Monica Zhu of Concord, California, filed a petition Friday morning, pleading with the court to allow the hospital to proceed with a sperm retrieval procedure on their son’s body. He always wanted to live on a ranch and raise a family and have horses, his parents said in in their petition and he is the only male child to continue the Zhu family lineage.

His parents attribute this mostly to China’s “one-child” policy, which forced his uncles to each have only one daughter, the petition says. “This is our one and only chance of fulfilling Peter’s wishes and preserving his incredible legacy,” the petition says.

Westchester Medical Center doctors were hesitant but willing to perform the procedure if the family could get a court to authorize it, according to the petition. The medical workers were “extremely kind and understanding,” it says.

New York Supreme Court Judge John Colangelo granted the request two hours after it was filed Friday morning. Colangelo’s motion said the reproductive material should be stored at a sperm bank or other facility of the family’s choosing until the court could conclusively decide on the matter.