Lisa's Surrogacy Joy He's Our Woman's Day Baby!

The athlete and her husband are over the moon

- Fleur Guthrie

The pram is in the garage, the 14-week scan pictures are hung on the wall and Lisa Tamati is pinching herself.

After battling infertility and other health-related issues, the 50-year-old champion endurance athlete and her firefighter husband Haisley O’Leary are finally going to be parents.

And it’s all because of the couple’s plea in the pages of Woman’s Day last September, when they put out an SOS call for an egg donor and surrogate mother.

“The story bore fruit!” laughs Lisa. “We now have a beautiful surrogate mum, Nicole Brisco, who is four months pregnant with our son, due in mid-July. It’s a Woman’s Day baby! It’s the greatest gift anybody could ever give us.”

Reaching out

As Hawera-based Nicole and her husband Kane arrive for our photo shoot, Lisa excitedly jumps up to greet them, asking, “Have you got a bump yet? Ooh,yes, look, it’s poking out!”

Gathering around the table in Lisa and Haisley’s New Plymouth home, the two couples talk and laugh like they’re friends from way back.

“It does feel like we’re family,” muses the former ultramarathon runner. “Nicole could be my younger sister. She looks like me, has a similar personality and we’re even from the same tribe – Te Atiawa. We’re bonded for life now.”