Sofia Vergara to use a surrogate for next baby because she’s a thyroid cancer survivor

40-year-old Sofia Vergara is freezing her eggs and plans to use a surrogate for her next child. She already has one child, Manolo Gonzalez (21), from a previous marriage, but she wants to have a child with her fiance Nick Loeb, which could be tricky not only because of her age, but because of a past battle with thyroid cancer.

The voluptuous actress was diagnosed with the disease when she was 28-years-old, and underwent surgery and radiation to treat it. Thankfully she’s still cancer-free, but she worries that the radiation may affect her reproduction capabilities.

“I just wanted to plan ahead,” Vergara, 40, told ABC News in April “My boyfriend Nicky is three years younger than me, and he’s never had a son,” she explained. “I have my son, Manolo, so it’s not an emergency for me to have another kid, but for Nicky, he’s never had a baby.”

The Modern Family star, who’s character recently had a baby, told the June 2013 issue of Cosmopolitan:

“I will have to use a surrogate, because I had thyroid cancer and lots of radiation. I don’t want to wait forever [to have another baby], but not yet, because I’m working like an animal.

“I froze my eggs. I had to go to my doctor’s office a hundred million times to do injections. My doctor had told me ‘We have a small window.’ I said, ‘That’s so rude!’ I already have a kid, so I never thought I would need to do that.”

In April, Sofia opened up to FoxNews.com about how her diagnosis and treatment has changed her life:

“Going through the whole process of getting my thyroid out, then the radiation and all the stuff, of course you change your life – because your priorities change. You realize that no matter how much beauty, money, success you have – if you don’t have health, you have nothing, because you can’t do anything.”

Sofia Vergara isn’t the only star lately to open up about battling thyroid cancer. Brooke Burke-Chavet was diagnosed last fall, and so far has had successful treatment.

Fun Fact: Sofia named her sone Manolo after Steven Bauer’s character in Brian De Palma’s Scarface.