Bend woman creating life and changing lives

(Update: Interview with surrogate mother)

A Bend woman is doing something unusual and unexpected. Not only is she a surrogate mother due in nine days, she is also donating all money received for surrogacy to help pay for another woman’s lifesaving medical procedure.

They say there’s no such thing as a selfless good deed, but Tess Nordstog is an exception to that.

“I am a surrogate mother and I am having a baby boy for a couple. They’re the most incredible people I’ve ever met. From the very beginning, going into this, is it was on my heart that all the compensation I might receive would be donated to something,” Nordstog said Tuesday.

And that something happens to be a woman in need of a lifesaving medical procedure costing more than $50,000.

“I just knew that I wanted it to impact someone close to me if possible, someone who was a giver themselves, that maybe always put other people before them. That’s exactly how this person is. She’s a person in this community who every single day, that’s all she does is take care of other people,” Nordstog said.

It’s an undertaking that’s been met with admiration — none of which Nordstog accepts.

“Every time someone says something like that or praises or commends me for what I’m doing, I just think, really just think: This is what people are supposed to do for each other,” she said.

Despite that, Nordstog maintains it’s all about the coming baby.

“None of this would be possible if this baby boy hadn’t decided to go on this adventure with me. He’s who is actually making all of this happen. He’s the smile-maker in all of this,” she said.

The baby is due in just nine days, on Sept. 28.

Nordstog started the GoFundMe page after learning money from the surrogacy won’t be enough to cover medical procedure.

You can find Nordstog’s GoFundMe page here: https://www.gofundme.com/humankindnesspassiton