Francesco Clark and Alberto Mihelcic Bazzana’s twins, Harold Amadeo and Elettra Emilia.Photo:Courtesy Francesco Clark
Courtesy Francesco Clark
Since a life-altering spinal cord injury more than 20 years ago, skincare mogulFrancesco Clark, the founder ofClark’s Botanicals, has been working hard to make his dreams come true. Last month, he achieved what might be his sweetest goal yet: starting a family.
Clark, 45, and his partner of five years, Alberto Mihelcic Bazzana, 36, became first-time fathers on June 7, when twins Harold Amadeo and Elettra Emilia were born via surrogate in Anderson, South Carolina.‘
“You can already see their personalities,” the proud father tells PEOPLE. “They both have these moments of calmness and then they start squeaking when they’re resting, and then in tandem, they both [make] a symphony of squeaks.”
It’s all music to Clark’s ears, as he has always wanted to have children but wasn’t sure if his dream could come true.
It was Memorial Day weekend 2002 when a then-24-year-old Clark dove into what he thought was the deep end of a pool at a timeshare on Long Island, New York, where he was staying with friends.
In an instant, life took a turn for Clark, then a fashion assistant atHarper’s Bazaar. His chin crashed into the pool’s bottom, and he shattered his C3 and C4 vertebrae. He was initially paralyzed from the neck down.
“My whole life, I was told that everything was impossible,” he says. “I mean, when I had my spinal cord injury, I was told that I would never be able to speak on my own because my left vocal cord was paralyzed. I was told that I won’t be able to breathe on my own, because my right lung had collapsed, and I would never be able to move my arms.”
But Clark pushed back, and through years of rehab and therapy, he regained the use of his arms and voice.
Francesco Clark and Alberto Mihelcic Bazzana.Courtesy Francesco Clark
After thinking about adoption, the couple soon realized they wanted to have their own biological children. About a year and a half ago, Clark says he underwent a procedure at Yale New Haven Hospital to retrieve his sperm cells. Mihelcic Bazzana did the same. One of their twins came from Clark’s donation, while the other is from his partner’s. The couple also used eggs from a separate donor than the surrogate.
“To have these fantastic kinds of visions of the future and thinking about the possibility of having a family became something very exciting for both of us,” the Bronxville, N.Y., native says.
He adds, “And with that came a determination to find the best possible ways to go about that.”
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Francesco Clark and Alberto Mihelcic Bazzana with twins.Courtesy Francesco Clark
Clark and his partner were able to find a suitable egg donor and surrogate, who became “like family” during her pregnancy. While they connected first over FaceTime, the couple officially met their surrogate shortly after she gave birth to their twins earlier this month.
“As soon as we got to the hospital, Alberto was energetic and jubilant,” Clark recalls. ”I felt incredibly happy and also very calm. All of a sudden, all the nervousness [disappeared] that I had felt for a year.”
He adds, “I mean, I was a nervous wreck because I didn’t want to tell people because the risks of having twins was high. And even just for me, to be able to be part of this process was risky. So we kept it very private until they were born. And now it just feels like we’ve always been with them.”
But first, the family of four endured something that would test any new relationship: a 15-hour all-nighter of a road trip back to New York.
“It is hard to describe it in words, but they just feel like an extension of yourself, that’s more important,” Clark says.
He adds, laughing: “The drive back galvanized that because we were driving back to home and singing — I was singing really bad Disney karaoke, and all of us were singing really bad ABBA also, but they never cried even for the bad singing.”
Francesco Clark.Courtesy Francesco Clark
Now, weeks later, Clark, who is paralyzed from the shoulders down, is getting the hang of being a dad, and using his positive outlook to overcome his limitations.
The new father has learned to tuck the babies’ bottles under his chin and cradle Amadeo and Elettra Emilia during their feedings.
“They’re close enough that they’re looking right in your eyes,” he says. “And so I have to do it the way that I can, it’s in a different way, but it doesn’t feel forced or unnatural. It just feels like this is the way it is.”
source: people.com
