Following the loss of her son, Spanish actress Ana Obregón made news in 2023 when she decided to honor his last request by using his sperm to have a child through surrogacy.

Aless Lequio, Ana’s son, tragically died of cancer in 2022 at the age of 27. Following his passing, Ana disclosed that he had conveyed a strong wish to become a father, which she was resolved to fulfill.

Ana gave birth to a baby girl in the US through surrogacy a year later. She subsequently explained that the child, named Anita, was created using Aless’ stored sperm and was actually her grandchild rather than her daughter.

“This girl is not my daughter, she is my granddaughter,” Ana told ¡Hola! in April 2023. “She is Aless’ daughter, and when she grows up I will tell her that her dad was a hero, so she knows who he is and how proud she should be of him.”

Despite still grieving the loss of her only son, Ana, now 70, recently talked on Spanish television about the bittersweet satisfaction she finds in rearing Anita.

“My house is full of stuffed animals and toys,” she said, smiling, per The London Evening Standard. “I even have a little ball pool where she makes me dive in.”

But as Anita grows, Ana admitted some of the physical challenges have become more difficult: “Picking her up is getting harder on my back.”

Reflecting on the shock of Aless’ diagnosis, she spoke candidly: “We go through life thinking we’re eternal, that nothing will happen to us. Then one day, at 25 years old, someone tells you that you have an aggressive cancer. That’s not what you expect to hear when you’re young.”

Because of the tragedy of losing Aless as a youngster, Ana also said that she now feels more worry when raising Anita than she did at that time.

In addition to the unusual circumstances, her decision to utilize a surrogate to conceive garnered a lot of public attention because surrogacy is prohibited in Spain. Ana became Anita’s legal caregiver after adopting her when she was born in the United States.