'I have biological children ready to come to life': Infertile cancer survivor battling to save frozen embryos from being destroyed by ex-husband says she will 'do anything' to get the eggs back

• Mimi Lee, 46, says the embryos are her 'last chance' for biological children
• Infertile after a breast cancer battle, she wants to find a surrogate 
• But ex-husband Stephen Findley claims she is trying to manipulate him
• When the two froze the five embryos in 2010, they signed a consent form that stated the eggs would be destroyed in the event of a divorce
• Lee and Findley have been fighting the form since splitting in 2013
• 'The thought that the children that we created will never see light is something I haven't really wrapped my head around,' Lee told ABC News
• A judge is now preparing to deliver a verdict in the case  

By Joel Christie and Myriah Towner For Dailymail.com

Published: 15:06 EST, 6 August 2015 | Updated: 16:18 EST, 6 August 2015

A San Francisco cancer survivor and doctor fighting to gain control of her frozen embryos after divorcing her husband has made a final desperate plea as the judge prepares to hand down a verdict in the bitter feud.

'I'm doing this for my babies,' Mimi Lee told ABC News on Thursday.

'I have biological children ready to come to life.'

The 46-year-old - a pianist and part-time anesthesiologist who is now infertile - wants to implant the embryos into a surrogate, however her ex-husband, Stephen Findley, wants them destroyed following their split in 2013.

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Speaking out: Mimi Lee, 46, says the five embryos she froze with her husband, Stephen Findlay, in 2010 are her last chance at having children, but he is fighting to have them discarded following an acrimonious divorce

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Hitting back: Findley, a wealthy finance exec, does not want to have children with his ex-wife following a bitter divorce two years ago and is fighting to have the embryos they froze together discarded

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The contract: Lee signed a contract in 2010 that said the embryos would be destroyed in the event of a divorce, but claims her and Findley just 'ticked the box' and didn't make a proper decision together

The former couple froze five embryos in 2010 right before their wedding as a precaution, after Lee was diagnosed with breast cancer.

But, crucially, Lee signed a consent form at the time that stated, should the two ever divorce, the specimens would be thawed and discarded.

Findley, a wealthy executive, is now upholding that document as a legally-binding contract, and Lee is challenging it, with the subsequent legal battle spanning two years.

The judge was this week preparing to hand down a verdict. 

'I stayed focused on my babies,' an emotional Lee said in the interview - to air in full Thursday night - of the court case.

'Knowing that I'm their mom and I would do anything for them ... that really got me through.

'I'm still very, very devoted and dedicated to seeing these embryos to life, so I will continue to fight for custody of them.

'The thought that the children that we created will never see light is something I haven't really wrapped my head around. 

'It seems unfathomable to me.' 

 

Infertile cancer survivor battling ex for embryos speaks out

 

 

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Mimi Lee (pictured), 46, who is infertile after surviving breast cancer, testified she wants the frozen embryos because it is her last chance to have biological children, but her ex-husband wants the embryos destroyed

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Lee, a pianist and part-time anesthesiologist, and Findley, a wealthy executive, married five years ago before he filed for divorce in 2013 - only three years into their marriage

In her court testimony last month, Lee reiterated that keeping the embryos were the only way for her to have biological children. 

'These embryos are for all intents and purposes my last chance to have my own babies,' she told the court.

However Findlay told the court that he does not want to have children with Lee, but hopes to have kids of his own with another woman.

He claims their marriage ended acrimoniously over financial issues, and believes Lee will use the embryos to 'manipulate the situation' and take money from him.

Lee denies this.

Findley’s attorney, Joseph Crawford, told the court:'If a child is genetically his, he will participate in the child’s life ... But he fears 18 years of interaction with Dr. Lee.'

The consent form from the fertility clinic stated that, if Findley died, the embryos would go to Lee.

While Lee signed the bottom of the form, the part about the embryos being destroyed were boxes that were ticked.

She likened the boxes to checking off Apple iOS software updates without reading them.

She claims the couple never made a decision together about what would happen if they broke up, according to The San Jose Mercury News. 

'We both perused through it,' she said of signing the forms with her ex-husband.

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Happier times: Just days before their wedding in 2010, Lee was diagnosed with breast cancer. The couple then made the decision to freeze their embryos, knowing she would be infertile after treatment 

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Findley filed for divorce in 2013 and wants the court in San Francisco, where closing arguments ended Tuesday, to enforce the consent form and order the embryos destroyed

Findley, who has accused Lee of trying to extort $1million to $2million per embryo from him, said he clearly understood that the embryos would be destroyed if they divorced.

He said he cannot think of having the children now due to his contentious relationship with Lee, according to Mercury News. 

Lee admitted during her testimony last month to threatening him in heated conversations following their split, but said she would not take money in exchange for having the embryos destroyed.

'They are priceless to me,' Lee said while getting emotional. 

The case went to trial in San Francisco County Superior Court and could create a new law surrounding the ability to enforce consent agreements that couples sign before obtaining reproductive technology.

'While the vast majority of cases resolve in favor of the party wishing to avoid procreation, two recent decisions award the embryos to the woman who wished to use them to have a child,' Judith F Daar, a professor at Whittier Law School, said in an e-mail interview to The Los Angeles Times before the start of the trial. 

Both women who won their cases had been diagnosed with cancer and were infertile, Darr added. 

During opening arguments for the case, Crawford, Findley's lawyer, claimed that Lee blackmailed his client, contending that she 'tried to get $1million to $2million per embryo' from her ex-husband.

Crawford claimed the Findley was 'a moral man' and did not elaborate on the blackmailing allegation. Lee's lawyer, Maxwell Pritt, later said he didn't not now what Crawford was referring to with the claim.  

Findley and Lee signed consent forms at University of California, San Francisco, Medical Center, that Crawford argues cannot be changed. 

Pritt claimed, however, that because Lee is infertile, her 'only chance to procreate' is with the embryos, adding that the case could have implications for all women who want to assert their right to procreation. 

He said that Lee did not consider the agreements as a binding contract and never discussed the forms with Findley until after he asked for a divorce.

Findley was the first witness during the trial. He testified that he and Lee read the consent forms before signing, and both read and initialed the page that said the embryos would be destroyed if they divorced. 

'I am a very detail-oriented person,' Findley said. 'I read every document very carefully.' 

He said that when Lee began looking into surrogacy in 2011, he was 'concerned about our marriage at that point'. 

He said that the consent agreements made it clear that the terms could only be changed if both parties approved. 

Lee is expected to complete her testimony on Friday and closing arguments are scheduled for August 4. 

Lee has said that if she were to use the frozen embryos, she would raise the child alone and waive any future child support from Findley. 

Whittier Law School's Darr said, however, that that waiver 'has no legal meaning'. 

'The mere fact that the wife is agreeing to take sole responsibility for any resulting child does not alleviate the husband's potential role in the child's life,' she told the LA Times. 

The case has similar hallmarks to that of the actress Sofia Vergara and her ex-fiancé Nick Loeb.

The pair have been locked in a bitter legal battle over the two frozen embryos created from when they were still together and going through in-vitro fertilization.

In court documents that were revealed earlier this year Vergara claims that her former flame is just trying to take advantage of her career by publicly fighting to take the embryos to full term.

But Loeb insists his intentions had nothing to do with her and instead he is taking her to court because he views the two remaining female embryos as his daughters and he believes in life from the moment of conception

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3187323/I-biological-children-ready-come-life-Infertile-cancer-survivor-battling-save-frozen-embryos-destroyed-ex-husband-says-eggs-back.html#ixzz3i4sRjZJh
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