- The pandemic causes a Spanish couple to go on a frantic journey to be with their son from a surrogate in Idaho.
- The couple waited for 7 years to have a child, only to be stopped by a pandemic from being there for the boy’s birth.
- After facing travel restrictions because of the pandemic, these dads get to finally be with their son.
This is a story of two dads who have been waiting to have a child and when they were about to have him, the lockdown keeps them continents away.
It has been a seven-year wish of Spanish couple Joan Fígols and his husband Alex Fernández to have a child. To make their wish come true, they enlisted the help of Nicole Williamson who has a surrogate agency in Boise, Idaho in the US, a continent away from them.
Their son was scheduled to be born in March but then Spain was one of the first countries in Europe to be hit hardest by the coronavirus. The US closed its borders for flights from Europe, leaving the two dads anxiously awaiting the birth of their son while frantically finding ways to be there in the US.
Fernandez says, “Our battle with the embassies started the moment the U.S. border was closed to European flights. We sent hundreds of emails asking for permission to travel, but we were always denied because Lluc hadn’t been born yet.”
Finally, Lluc was born on April 24 at 6.8 lbs., without any of her dads’ present.
Nicole Williamson, the person responsible for facilitating their surrogacy, is also the same person who came to take care of baby Lluc while the couple worked on their travel papers. Lluc’s developments, from doctor’s visits to his sleeping and eating, were shared by Nicole through constant video calls.
“Nicole and her family have been like guardian angels for us,” says Fernández.
Then came the go signal to finally travel to the US. But only for Daddy Joan Figols. So it was just Figols who flew to Idaho, who waited for 5 days for the COVID-19 test result which was negative, before he could be with their new-born son.
Six weeks after his birth, Dad Joan finally gets to hold his precious bundle in his arms.
In a video chat with his husband Fernàndez, Figols said, “It had been such a long road to get here and then to finally have him in my arms. It was an emotional reunion.”
While working on documents for him and for Luc to go home to Spain, Fígols stayed for a while in Idaho, and video chatted with Fernández on a daily basis.
On June 16, Figols and Lluc finally landed on Spanish shores and Fernàndez was so relieved to have them home. He said, “Until he was here, it felt like our problems weren’t over yet.”
Lluc is now happily cared for and tended to by his family and an extended family of 12 aunts and uncles and nine cousins.
The couple plans to have another baby and would not mind doing it all over again.
When you wish hard enough and do everything to make it happen, even a pandemic cannot stop it.
Source: PEOPLE