A woman has revealed that the baby girl she recently welcomed with the help of a surrogate is not her own child - but is actually the daughter of her late son.
Spanish actor Ana Obregón, 68, promised her late son, Aless Lequio, that she would grant his dying wish to bring a child into the world.
The 27-year-old sadly died at the age of 27 from cancer in May 2020 and he told his mum and dad, Alessandro Lequio, he wanted to have a child ‘a week before he died’.
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In an interview with Spanish magazine Hola!, Obregón said there were lots of legalities she had to go through in order to bring her grandchild into the world - but she’s now happier than ever.
“This baby girl is not my daughter, but my granddaughter. She is Aless’ daughter and when she grows up I will tell her that her father was a hero so that she knows who she is and how proud she should be of him," she explained.
The baby girl, named Ana Sandra Lequio Obregón, was born on 20 March in a hospital in Miami, US. She is legally Obregón’s daughter and will have dual citizenship.
The proud grandmother found out in August that her grandbaby had been conceived and discovered in December that the baby was a girl.
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Aless chose to have his sperm samples frozen after he was diagnosed with cancer, before starting chemotherapy.
“What people don’t know is that this was Aless’ last wish: to bring a child into the world,” she told the publication.
The Spanish actor, who appeared in the American series The A-Team and Who’s the Boss? in the 1980s, chose to preserve her son’s sperm samples in the US and get the help of a US-based surrogate because surrogacy is forbidden by law in Spain.
This includes ‘altruistic’ forms of surrogacy, in which no money is exchanged.
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“The only thing that has allowed me to continue living every day, every second, is to fulfill the mission of bringing Aless’ daughter into the world,” she shared.
“I’m happy! Surrounded by diapers, bottles, all pink, full of bows and smelling like perfume, how wonderful!
"Also, Aless Lequio loved babies and would go crazy every time he saw one. He told me: ‘I am going to call my first daughter Ana, like you, mommy'."
She hasn’t ruled out having more grandchildren via a surrogate in the future, noting that her son said he wanted to have five children.
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In reference to her son’s cancer diagnosis, Obregón said: “I failed my son and I could not save him, but this, which I swore to him with my life, I have done and no one can take that away from me.”
She continued: “And I don’t think there is anyone in the world, when they see this beautiful girl — who was so desired by her father from heaven and by me on earth and by all those who love me — will not think the same way.
"It is something that only fathers or mothers who have lost a child will perfectly understand.”
Gregory Robinson