Our little angel is exactly what the doctor ordered
Top aesthetic surgeon tells of his joy over marriage and being a dad
Site of new hospital
He’s used to changing other people’s lives but in an extraordinary year Dr Darren McKeown has transformed his own.
Scotland’s leading aesthetic surgeon is the star of a new documentary series in which viewers will see him get hitched and have a baby while trying to build the country’s first luxury cosmetic hospital.
But for Darren, 41, and husband Tom Cronin, 35, it’s the birth of gorgeous daughter Ophelia with the help of a surrogate that has altered their lives beyond measure.
Darren said: “Letting the cameras follow us during the craziest year of our lives was quite stressful at times but it is amazing to have a video diary of all that happened in the year we welcomed our daughter into the world.
“There are not enough words in the world to describe how happy we both are or how grateful we are to the most kind human being we have ever had the good fortune of meeting – our surrogate.
“Carrying a baby for another family for nine months has to be one of the most self less acts a human being could do. Saying ‘thank you’ just doesn’t cut it.”
Eight- month- old Ophel ia Cronin- McKeown was born in Arizona, US, on July 10, weighing in at a healthy 9lb, and the doting daddies have been on cloud nine ever since.
Darren, who has dreamed of becoming a father for as long as he can remember, said: “Our world is now full of love. Waking up to her smile every morning fills us full of joy and when she said ‘ Dada’ for the first time last week our hearts nearly burst.”
Tom, 35, cl inic manager at Darren’s Glasgow-based practice, said: “She’s our wee angel. We can’t wait to see what a wonderful little human she grows up to be.
“We find it really hard to be away from her and rush home from work every night so we can spend as much time as possible with her. She is our world.”
But the journey to becoming parents has not been easy af ter three previous pregnancies ended in miscarriage.
Darren said: “It has been a long process and it has taken us a few years to get here. Surrogacy laws in the UK are really complex. The Surrogacy
Act was written in 1985 and since then social attitudes have changed enormously. It’s much more risky in the UK and we felt it was safer to do it in the US. “We created our baby using our sperm with the eggs of a donor to create the embryo, which was grown in a lab for five days. They are frozen and then at a later stage were implanted into our surrogate. “The surrogate is not genetically related to the baby. She basically babysat our daughter inside her womb for nine months. She has given us a gift we can never repay.
“We hope folk will realise having a family is achievable for people in same-sex relationships. It’s difficult, it’s not cheap – but it is doable.”
The couple, who have been together for 14 years, are already thinking about expanding their family.
Former f inancier Tom said: “We definitely want more children. Darren wants us to start the process again soon but I think we should wait until next year. He
wants a huge family but at the moment we’ve settled on three. Not bad considering I never thought about having kids. Darren’s got me from zero to three. We just love our little family.”
The couple, who met in London when Tom was working for a finance company and Darren was a junior surgeon in the NHS, tied the knot in January last year at Gleneagles.
Darren, who studied medicine in Glasgow and trained in plastic and reconst ruct ive surger y af ter graduation, said: “We had planned to get married in the south of France, then Covid happened. A couple of miscarriages followed and then, when we eventual ly got pregnant, we decided to just do it before she arrived. It was the perfect day.
“We had 50 guests and 64 entertainers including a pipe band, aerial artists and dancers. It was mindblowing. We then had an amazing honeymoon in the Maldives, where we just chilled.
“Being marr ied is much more important to me than I thought it would be. Before, it was just something you did but, now Tom and I are off icially husband and husband and we have a baby, it means so much more.”
A wedding and a baby would be enough for any couple to tackle in a year but the Cronin-McKeowns chose 2022 as the year to start work on their dream private hospital.
The documentary Facelift – on BBC Scotland at 10pm on Tuesday – will reveal the ups and downs of their extraordinary 12 months.
Work is now well under way on the three- storey Georgian building in Glasgow’s city centre, which was once home to architect Charles Rennie Mackintosh, and they hope it will be up and running later this year.
Darren, whose current cl inic carries out everything from facial rejuvenation to full surgical face and neck lifts, said: “This has been a passion project of mine for years. The first step was finding the right property, which we did. The main building will house the hospital which, when complete, will have three operating theatres and six overnight rooms, including one presidential suite. The smaller townhouse next door will be new home to the clinic.
“I’ve been pouring blood, sweat and tears into this project to get it just right. When it’s f inished, I want it to be a centre of excellence where we marry the most luxurious and high- quality facilities and technology with a team of the best aesthetic specialists in a way the world hasn’t seen before. It’s a level of excellencence that I passionately believeve aesthet ic pat ientt s deserve but doesn’t’t presently exist.”
Darren, whoho has earned a reputation as Scotland’s topop makeover doctor, said: “It is going to bee a super- specialistalist cent re so the surgeon who does your nose won’t be the surgeon who does your boobs. I want to make Scotland the place to comeme to for cosmetic surgery.
“We want patients to walk in and feel they are arrivingng at a luxury, restful five-star spapa hotel rather than a hospital. The goal is to attract nationalal and international patients.”
The Facelift series also introducestroduces the clinic team including aesthetic doctor Rhona Cameron, newew recruit Dr Nina Singh and consultantnsultant plastic surgeon Russell Bramhallramhall and features the stories offarangearange of patients and the emotional reasons behind their procedures.
Darren said: “At the clinic we are not only improving our patient’s aesthetics, we are improving their mental wellbeing and for some the experience is life- changing. We are all so proud of what we do.”
Darren wants a huge family but at the moment we have settled on three kids