World's oldest mother dies of cancer just three years after giving birth to twin

Her death will reopen the debate about whether older women should be allowed to undergo fertility treatment. It also means that two boys have lost their mother. Orphaned before reaching school, her sons, Christian and Pau, will have to rely on others to find out about her. Miss Bousada died on Saturday in her home town of Cadiz, south-west Spain, after battling cancer for most of their short lives. She gave birth in Barcelona in December 2006, days before her 67th birthday. Earlier this month, Britain's oldest mother Elizabeth Adeney, who had a boy in May, was 67. Like Miss Bousada, she too was childless and single when she underwent fertility treatment using a donor egg and donor sperm. As for Miss Bousada's cancer, it is understood that the former shop worker had been told that the drugs used during her fertility treatment may have hastened the advance of the disease.

It is known that some types of cancer are sensitive to hormones associated with both pregnancy and fertility treatment. Miss Bousada told doctors in Los Angeles that she was 55 when she travelled there to undergo IVF treatment.

Critics, including her own family, called the pensioner, who went through the menopause 18 years before her 20,000 treatment, 'selfish and irresponsible'. After the birth she admitted lying about her age and predicted she would live to 101 as her mother had done. 'I have every reason to believe longevity runs in my family,' she said. But in December 2007 she admitted that she had a 'very serious illness', thought to have been breast cancer. Asked who would look after the children if she died she said: 'I have a nephew, I have their godfather who is very good with the children. 'They are not going to be alone. The love that these children receive, very few children get that amount of love. That's the truth.'