Emeril Surprises 'Selfless' Mom Carrying Child for Best Friend
The two woman were chosen for the chef's "Breakfast in Bed Contest."
— -- A pair of best friends from New Orleans got the surprise of their lives on “Good Morning America” thanks to chef Emeril Lagasse.
Rene Redmann and Amy Dubuc's story began years ago in their high school days, when their friendship was born, and has continued as they each got married and began their adult lives.
Their paths began to differ in their 20s, when Dubuc started a family and Redmann faced breast cancer, not once but twice.
“You just got a sense that Amy wanted to be there for Rene,” said Redmann’s husband, Daniel.
Redmann beat breast cancer but found she was unable to carry a pregnancy through term, an obstacle made even more difficult as she watched other friends have their babies.
“It was heartbreaking to know that we might never get our turn,” she said.
The Redmanns researched adoption and saved some fertilized eggs for a potential surrogacy but never asked anyone to carry the eggs because, according to Redmann, it was “just too much to ask.”
The couple’s future changed when something amazing and beautiful happened, thanks to Dubuc and her husband, Mike.
“There was an awkward silence for a few seconds and Mike said, ‘You know, I know somebody who may want to help you have a family,’” Daniel Redmann recalled.
Even with four children of her own under the age of 6, Dubuc volunteered to be the surrogate and carry her best friend’s baby.
“It needs to be a woman within this age, boom. It needs to be a woman who has had more than two children, boom,” Mike Dubuc said of why it made sense. “It was like every little thing fell right into place.”
“We sometimes joke about their bun, our oven,” he said. “You know, we got this.”
Dubuc has included Redmann in every step of the pregnancy, from the doctors’ appointments to the baby’s kicks.
“It was just the biggest gift to us,” Redmann said. “She sends us videos because the baby goes crazy at night, so we can see all the movement.”
“It’s the most selfless thing that you can do in the world,” she said. “I can’t imagine anything that would ever come close to it.”
Redmann was so thankful for her best friend’s selfless act that she nominated Dubuc for Lagasse’s “Mother’s Day Breakfast in Bed Contest.”
What Redmann did not know is that Lagasse was in New Orleans to surprise both her and Dubuc -- who are both 32 years old -- as the winners.
“Oh my God,” Dubuc said, shocked at the sight of Lagasse and all her family and friends gathered alongside him.
“I want the world to know how amazing you are and how you’re changing our life,” Redmann told Dubuc.
Lagasse served the mother and mother-to-be a classic New Orleans dish of chicken and waffles in bed.
He also gave the pair a dinner out on the town –- along with their husbands –- at his restaurant, Emeril’s, in New Orleans.
“We are hoping people hear this story and maybe someone out there will be inspired to do something special for someone,” Redmann said.
Dubuc is due at the end of May, and said Monday on "GMA" that "the pregnancy's been wonderful. The baby's been kicking. It's ready to come out and meet its mama." The baby's gender will be a surprise.