Michelle Stafford Shares the Inspirational Story of Her Surrogate, Noel

Soap fans know Michelle Stafford as Phyllis on THE YOUNG AND THE RESTLESS or Nina on GENERAL HOSPITAL, but the actress is also the proud mother to two children, 10-year-old Natalia and four-year-old Jameson. She also took to social media to share the remarkable true story of her daughter’s surrogate, Noel. “Some of you know, but not all of you, that a surrogate carried my daughter for me,” Stafford wrote. “This warrior came into my life after three years of constant, intense disappointment. I was spent. ‘Crispy’ as I called it at the time. 

“No woman really wants to have another woman carry her child,” she continued. “I felt like a complete loser. I was grateful that we have the medical technology to actually do something like that. That another woman can carry your own biological child. I mean, it is remarkable. I am truly grateful now for that and for so many other reasons.”

While Noel was carrying Stafford’s daughter, the two spoke almost every day and became like family. And when Natalia’s birth happened so quickly that Stafford wasn’t able to arrive at the hospital in time, she was additionally grateful to Noel’s husband, Otis, for helping to deliver Natalia. 

“I owe them everything,” Stafford declared before going on to the important part of her tale. “So, about two years ago, Noel called me and told me she had just been diagnosed with stage four gastroesophageal cancer. They had given her a few months to live. She told me she was going to beat this. She told the doctors she was going to beat this. I believed her. It’s now a year past the time they told her she would be dead… and here she is.

“Not only that, but there is no evidence of the disease in her body,” she added. “The cancer is completely gone. All the doctors who gave her a little smirk when she said that she was going to be cancer and continue living are now asking what she did along with her chemo. They are taking notes and they are now listening to her. She has written down everything she did so she can help others. It is truly remarkable. It’s more than a miracle.”

For more information on Noel’s miraculous story, you can visit her blog or E-mail her directly at noelscancerbattle@gmail.com. And for more from Stafford about her juicy new storyline, don’t miss our exclusive Y&R cover story in the new CBS edition of Soaps In Depth magazine on sale March 2!