A Bollywood actress who fought a battle with blood cancer has opened up about becoming a mother to twins born via surrogacy
The 46-year-old, who originates from Canada and has a Bengali Hindu father and Polish mother, penned an article in the Deccan Chronicle, in which she describes her joy of motherhood, the traumatic cancer diagnosis that changed her life and living as a family of four, with husband, Jason Dehni.
Lisa was diagnosed with Multiple Myeloma, a cancer of the blood in 2009, and despite fighting and beating it into remission, she was subsequently told that due to lifelong medication she would need to take, it meant she would not be able to carry children herself.
The couple began to look at options for commercial surrogacy, but within months it was outlawed in India and so they began their search in other countries.
“Finally we settled on the country of Georgia, where the surrogacy process is legal, transparent, regulated and overall a beneficial process for both sides.”
The pair relocated to Tbilisi, Georgia for the birth for a few months, returning soon with twin daughters, Sufi, which means mystic and Soleil, which is the French word for sun.
She is also candid about being an older mother, she called in ‘unconventional’ but ‘the right time for us’.
She said: “I will teach my girls to be resilient, strong, open, and that they can achieve anything they set their hearts on. There are no boundaries except the ones in our minds and children have no ideas of what you can and cannot achieve.”
Lisa said she feels the need to be open about her own surrogacy story due to the many misconceptions surrounding the process.
“I wanted to share our struggle and triumph. Having been open about my cancer journey and received so much unconditional support, sharing this moment of happiness feels right. Hopefully our story can give hope to others struggling to have kids. Life throws you both challenges and miracles and I’m unspeakably grateful for my miracle daughters.”
Lisa is not alone in her surrogacy journey, several other Bollywood stars before her have chosen a similar route, including Karan Johar, Rashmi Sharma and Farah Khan chose to have IVF treatment, according to India media outlets.
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