The inventor of Clark’s Botanicals said of parenthood, “It is hard to put it into words, but they just feel like an extension of yourself, that’s more important.”
Francesco Clark, the founder of Clark’s Botanicals and a skincare tycoon who suffered a life-altering spinal cord injury more than 20 years ago, has been striving hard to realize his aspirations. He succeeded in establishing a family last month, which might be his sweetest accomplishment to date.
On June 7, Harold Amadeo and Elettra Emilia, twins born via surrogate in Anderson, South Carolina, made their fathers-first debut. Clark, 45, and his partner of five years, Alberto Mihelcic Bazzana, 36, are both fathers for the first time.
“You can already see their personalities,” the proud parent remarks. They both experience tranquil periods before they begin to squeak when they are sleeping. When they both squeak at the same time, they create a symphony of squeaks.
Clark is overjoyed since he’s always desired kids but wasn’t sure whether his dream could come true.
When he was 24 years old, Clark plunged into what he believed to be the deep end of a pool at a timeshare on Long Island, New York, where he was staying with friends, over Memorial Day weekend in 2002.
Clark, who was working as a fashion assistant at Harper’s Bazaar, experienced a sudden change in his life. His C3 and C4 vertebrae were broken when his chin fell into the water and hit the bottom of the pool. He was first rendered neck-down paralyzed.
Francesco Clark and his partner welcome twins Clark, Francesco
I was informed that everything was impossible my entire life, the man claims. “I mean, after my spinal cord injury, I was informed that because my left vocal cord was paralyzed, I would never be able to speak on my own. I was informed that I would never be able to move my arms and wouldn’t be able to breathe on my own because my right lung had collapsed.
But Clark resisted, and after years of rehabilitation and therapy, he was able to use his voice and limbs again.
Years later, with the assistance of his late father, Dr. Harold Clark, a homeopath who studied internal medicine, the entrepreneur launched his well-liked by celebs natural skincare business.
At some point, he also ran upon Mihelcic Bazzana, who shared his Italian heritage and desire to start a family.
The couple considered adoption but quickly decided they preferred to have their own biological children. Clark claims that he underwent a treatment at Yale New Haven Hospital to extract his sperm cells around a year and a half ago. Likewise, Mihelcic Bazzana did. Their twins were both donated, one by Clark and the other by his girlfriend. Additionally, the couple used eggs from a different 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, New York, native says.
He continues, “And with that came a determination to find the best possible ways to go about that.”
Finding an appropriate egg donor and surrogate who became “like family” throughout her pregnancy was possible for Clark and his partner. The couple met their surrogate in person for the first time shortly after she gave birth to their twins earlier this month, but they initially communicated over FaceTime.
Alberto was energized and joyful as soon as we arrived at the hospital, according to Clark. “I had extreme joy and calm. All of the anxiety I had been experiencing for a year suddenly vanished.
“I mean, I was a nervous wreck because I didn’t want to tell people because the risks of having twins were high,” the speaker continues. Furthermore, it was dangerous for me to be able to participate in this process alone. So, until they were born, we kept it very private. And right now, it simply seems like we’ve known them forever.
But first, the four-person family had to put up with something that would put a strain on any newly formed bond: a 15-hour all-night drive back to New York.
It’s difficult to put into words, but what matters most, according to Clark, is that they feel like an extension of you.
He continues, chuckling, “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.”
After a few weeks, Clark—who is paralyzed from the shoulders down—is adjusting to fatherhood and using his optimistic outlook to get around his disabilities.
Amadeo and Elettra Emilia’s new father has learnt to hold them during feedings and put their bottles beneath his chin.
“They’re close enough that they’re looking right in your eyes,” he claims. “As a result, I have to perform it in the best way I can; it’s different, but it doesn’t feel forced or out of the ordinary. Simply put, it seems to be the way things are.
