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Brave Mum of Twins Looks Forward to 2006
Alistair Beaton, Press and Journal
29 December 2005
An Aberdeenshire mum who battled leukaemia to give birth
to twins has celebrated a very special Christmas and is wishing
for a new year that is "just ordinary".
Vanessa Love, of Westhill, said she was looking forward to
putting the 2005 calendar in the bin". All the family's wish
for 2006 is simply to get back to a normal life," she added.
"This year has been such an amazing roller-coaster of emotions
for us all. When I look back on it all, I am a bit lost for
words."
The first indication that this year was to be an extraordinary
one for the family came last Christmas when Mrs Love, 31,
started feeling tired, sick and exhausted. "I thought it was
because I was expecting a baby," she said. "I had no idea
what a year 2005 would prove to be."
In January she and her teacher husband Charlie went for a
12-week ultrasound check and were delighted to learn she was
expecting twins. They already had two daughters, Amber, aged
six, and four-year-old Megan. But four days later Mrs Love
was called back to hospital to be told a routine blood test
had shown she had acute promyelocytic leukaemia.
Determined to continue her pregnancy, the brave mum sent
the condition into remission by taking the drug Atra and gave
birth at 31 weeks. The three-hour emergency operation was
performed by a 14-strong medical team at Aberdeen Royal Infirmary.
Baby sons Blake and Rohan were born by caesarian section,
then medics carried out delicate surgery on their mother's
twisted bowel. She had suffered from the condition since birth,
but it had gone unnoticed until the twins started moving in
the womb. Mrs Love became one of the first women in the country
to give birth to twins while being treated for her cancer.
Despite being born three weeks early, the twins - each weighing
just over 3lb - progressed well. In June, their mother began
four months of chemotherapy. Specialists are satisfied that
the treatment has done its job and she will now have to take
tablets for the next two years. Through the pregnancy and
14 sessions of treatment, she said family and friends provided
constant support. "The twins themselves kept me going," she
added. "I was so busy looking after them, I just didn't have
time to feel sorry for myself. Even people we barely know
have been so kind, and our Christmas tree was almost buried
under gifts and good wishes."
At the start of the year Mrs Love began a website diary at
www.vanessablog.com and her moving yet often amusing account
has had around 30,000 visits. The latest entry includes an
invitation for people to sponsor her Macmillan Nurse who will
be running in next year's London Marathon in aid of the Leukaemia
Research Fund.
Abandoned twins 'are doing well'
Birmingham Mirror, December 9th 2005
ABANDONED baby Holly has followed her twin brother
in leaving intensive care as the newborn infants' health continues
to improve. Staff at Heartlands Hospital in Bordesley Green,
where the twins were found dumped in a cardboard box on 6th
December 2005, said today that Holly and Joseph were both
doing "really well". They revealed that the hospital switchboard
had been "going crazy" with hundreds of people offering the
twin babies a home.
Police are still appealing for the natural mother, who is
suffering from an infection, to come forward. 
But detectives say that if she does not want to be reunited
with Holly and Joseph, her wishes would be paramount and the
babies would be placed into the care of social services. A
spokesman for Heartlands Hospital said: "We have had hundreds
of calls from all over the country asking if they can give
them a good home. "Loads of people have phoned wanting the
twins, but in cases like this, the babies will go to social
services if the mother is not found."
* The mother, or anyone who knows her, can contact Stechford
police on 0845 113 5000, Heartlands Hospital maternity unit
on 0121 424 3514 or the Brook Clinic on 0121 643 5341 or 0121
248 2500.
Airline Katrina's joy
as premature girls are one year old
By Ann Gripper
Sunday Mirror, 18 December
2005
When the candles were blown out on her daughters'
first birthday cake, Katrina Batham struggled to think of
anything to wish for. That's because Katrina, 31, the airline
check-in girl whose battle with cancer won the hearts of viewers
on the TV reality show Airline, has everything she's ever
dreamed of. After years of painful chemotherapy which saw
her kidney, spleen, half a lung and half her chest muscles
removed, the former easyJet girl doubted she would ever be
able to have the children she longed for...but she defied
the odds to become pregnant.
Her joy turned to anxiety when twins Clarissa and Freya were
born two months prematurely and spent six weeks fighting for
their lives in a special care baby unit. Katrina feared they
wouldn't pull through - but they showed the same fighting
spirit as their mum as they battled back to health. It was
the twins' first birthday this month and now Katrina and husband
Julian, 37, can't wait to spend their first Christmas together
at home with the girls.
"Celebrating their first birthday was a day I feared would
never happen," says Katrina. "On Christmas night last year
Clarissa was very, very poorly and I thought we were going
to lose her. "Then even getting them out of hospital seemed
a long way off. "The night before their birthday we decorated
our lounge and we put the pictures of them in the incubators
up on the wall. We just said to each other, 'Look how they
are there and see them now! Look at what they've done!' "I
remember Clarissa fighting for her life the day that photo
was taken and look at her now - she's just so vibrant." "Having
my two girls is the best thing that has ever happened to me.
"Now I've got a lovely home, lovely family, lovely children,
I really haven't got anything left to wish for - now we just
can't wait for Christmas to come."
To mark the twins' birthday, the couple from
Milton Keynes threw a party for 100 guests in the hall where
they had their wedding reception. The girls then unwrapped
their matching pink rocking horses from mum and dad. "It was
not just their birthday party," Katrina explains. "I wanted
it to be a celebration of our little girls' lives. It's about
getting everybody who we care about together to celebrate."
Freya weighed just 3lb 6oz at birth and fitted into her mum's
hand when she was born eight weeks early by emergency caesarean
section. Clarissa was a pound heavier, but Freya's umbilical
cord had been wrapped around her neck. Her lungs hadn't fully
developed and she had to be resuscitated within moments of
her birth when she stopped breathing. The girls spent six
weeks in the special care unit of Milton Keynes Hospital.
They gradually got stronger, but Katrina and Julian almost
lost them again when they caught bronchiolitis, an infant
form of bronchitis.
They were eventually allowed home in January
but went back for check-ups every three months. At nine months
doctors gave them the all clear, but in mid-November Clarissa
caught bronchiolitis again and had to spend three days in
hospital, which brought back all the old worry. "I hated her
being back in hospital," Katrina recalls. "I felt so sorry
for her, but I thought how blessed she was to be getting all
this special care." After a course of antibiotics, Clarissa
came home again and was soon back crawling around the house
- even managing to terrorise Katrina's 15-year-old cat.
Katrina believes her own poor health is now
behind her too. She's fought cancer three times and lost a
kidney, her spleen, half her diaphragm and part of a lung
along the way. But she was last ill five years ago, and if
all is well at her appointment in the New Year she will now
need check-ups only once every five years. The girls are fighting
fit too, but Katrina does everything she can to stop them
picking up bugs as they are still prone to lung problems.
She says: "I've been so careful with this illness thing. When
we go shopping I wipe all the trolley handles and seats that
the girls sit in. "But the only thing I didn't realise is
how much you worry over your children. You are responsible
for two little lives." This worry does not hold her back,
and she takes great delight in her girls.
"They are my little best friends," she says.
"They go everywhere with me. I'm out every day with them to
the shops or to feed the ducks or the fish at the lake, or
we go to the park. They love the swings. I love dressing them
in their little outfits. I do like to show them off - I'm
just so proud of them. "They've already got different personalities.
Freya's doing things before Clarissa because she's more active.
She's on the go all the time. "Clarissa is very laid back
and takes things in her stride, she takes everything in. But
in the last few months Clarissa's realised her little friend's
gone so she's catching up and doing the same things." Katrina
adds: "I've never known them fight. They like being together
and they share things and play together."
As much as Katrina would love to have more children,
she does not want to jeopardise what she already has. After
her body has been through so much, doctors are worried another
pregnancy would put it under too much strain. "When I had
the girls there was a lot of concern over me because carrying
them and then giving birth could weaken my heart," Katrina
explains. "In my eyes I'm blessed with two healthy girls -
what I always wanted - I've got my little family. Now I don't
want to risk something else happening." Katrina left her job
as an easyJet check-in girl at Luton in April 2001. Now a
full-time mum, she also does promotional work as the face
of beauty firm Helen when Julian has time off from his job
as a Waitrose manager.
Now after last year's traumatic Christmas when
the girls were still desperately ill in hospital, the whole
family are eagerly looking forward to being together for the
day. "It will be so magical," says happy Katrina.
I lost 40% of my blood
- I asked the midwife: Am I dying ?
TV Gabby tells of twins agony by Denis Ellam
Sunday Mirror, 4th September
2005
Sports presenter Gabby Logan has revealed how
she feared she was dying after the birth of her twins. She
lost 40 per cent of her blood, and had to be rushed into emergency
surgery as her horrified rugby star husband Kenny and other
members of her family looked on. In the end, her life was
saved by a blood transfusion.
The crisis happened when twins Reuben and Lois
had to be induced in the NHS maternity unit at Queen Charlotte's
Hospital in West London. They were delivered safely - but
soon after Gabby, 31, began bleeding heavily. "The placentas
came out and then the real drama started," Gabby said, speaking
for the first time since the birth five weeks ago. "I was
bleeding and it wasn't stopping." She was rushed into theatre.
"As I was wheeled along the corridor I asked
the midwife if I was going to die. She said I wasn't, and
I believed her." Gabby's father, former soccer star Terry
Yorath, her mother Christine and brother Jordan looked on
in horror from a nearby waiting room as Gabby was wheeled
by leaving a bloody trail. Later Kenny told her that the delivery
room had been left looking like a butcher's, she added. Surgeons
gave her seven pints of blood to save her. The haemorrhage
had been caused because her uterus failed to contract once
the twins, weighing 12lbs between them, had been delivered.
But, she said, she still believes it was a "miracle"
she was able to give birth naturally. She had been determined
to avoid a Caesarean. She described her "best efforts" to
bring on labour - she tried sex, acupuncture, reflexology
and champagne, in that order - but nothing worked. Once her
doctor decided to induce the birth and her contractions started
they went on all through the night - with Kenny keeping Gabby's
spirits up by inventing stories to get her through the pain.
Her husband told her to imagine she was cycling up hills or
running marathons. The couple played their favourite tunes
on an iPod, and filled the room with the fragrance of roses
from an aromatherapy oil-burner.Gabby also tried to relieve
her pain with meditation and walking techniques she had read
about.
When medical staff finally told her she could
start to push, she said, it was as joyous a moment as when
she had been told she was pregnant in the first place. In
all she was in labour for nearly 24 hours, and then the twins
arrived 16 minutes apart, Reuben first. Even after the life-threatening
drama that followed, as she was being taken into the recovery
room she told Kenny that she would do it all again. After
five days in hospital she was ready to go home. But like lots
of mums, Gabby says her post-natal hormones were going haywire,
and she became weepy. She said she would cry every five minutes
... when Kenny told her he loved her, while watching the news,
even when she walked out of the hospital and saw the baby
seats in the car.
Gabby has vowed to be back at work on ITV next
week - even though she's exhausted as the new mother of twins.
The first feed of the day is at 7am, followed by seven more
in the next 24 hours. There's not much time left for anything
else - but she does have the luxury of help from domestic
staff including a cleaner, a maternity nurse and even a personal
breast-feeding counsellor. The last five weeks, she said,
have been her "babymoon" - motherhood's equivalent of a honeymoon.
"It has been a magical time ... I want to be
the best mum in the world, but that doesn't mean the fire
in my belly for my other passions has gone. Suddenly my life
has more purpose." Her inspiration to keep going, she added,
is yachts-woman Ellen MacArthur. When Gabby feels tired, she
imagines herself adrift on the ocean with a broken mast and
only packet soup to eat, and suddenly she feels stronger.
Twin Boys for Belfast
Born Newsreader
Thursday 25th August
2005
Newsreader Andrea Catherwood has given birth
to identical twin boys six weeks prematurely, it was announced
today. The 37-year-old ITV news presenter had a Caesarean
section yesterday afternoon because of complications in her
pregnancy. Doctors found the babies were suffering from twin-to-twin
transfusion syndrome, which occurs when twins share a placenta
and one receives more nutrients than the other.
The as-yet-unnamed boys are in intensive care
in a London hospital but are said to be doing well. Catherwood`s
lawyer husband Gray Smith, 39, was present at the births.
A spokeswoman for the Belfast-born presenter said: "Andrea
is understandably delighted to have identical twin boys and
she has described them as gorgeous. "It was clearly a very
stressful time and although they are very small they are doing
well. "The babies are currently being well looked after in
intensive care and doctors are monitoring their progress."
The couple, who married in 2002, already have
an 18-month-old son, Finn.
Mother Courage's
Catherine Deveney, Scotland
on Sunday, Sunday 29th May 2005
It takes 365 days for the earth to circuit
the sun; a steady, inexorable movement of time compared to
the speed with which the lives of the creatures clinging to
its surface turn upside down.
For 31-year-old Aberdonian, Vanessa Love, mere
hours separated the elation of being told that she was expecting
twins and the devastation of being told she was suffering
from leukaemia. Her world turned around completely, and in
the few months since the double diagnosis in January, Love
has refused chemotherapy to protect her unborn babies; gone
into remission with the help of anti-leukaemia drug ATRA;
had emergency life-saving surgery on a rare bowel disorder;
and given birth prematurely to twins Blake and Rohan.
It was at a routine, three-month scan in January
that Love and husband Charlie were told that their family
of two girls, Amber, five, and Megan, four, would have a double
addition. The diagnosis of twins explained a lot. Vanessa
had been so tired. Twice she had suffered blackouts. Perhaps,
medical staff suggested, she was a bit anaemic. They would
take blood tests.
The next morning, the Loves' phone rang at 9am.
"You know when the hospital phones on a Saturday that there's
something wrong," says Vanessa. "I used to work in a doctor's
surgery and I knew it wasn't normal to get a call like that.
I had to go in. I think at first I thought I was really anaemic
and would need a blood transfusion. But I had more blood tests,
a bone marrow test, and in a couple of hours we knew it was
leukaemia. It was horrendous."
Vanessa sits cross-legged on her bed in Aberdeen
Royal Infirmary, a tiny, elfin figure with a striking, delicate
face that looks as if it has been gently chiselled from creamy
alabaster. Her cheeks have a faint blush of pink, a physical
hint of her returning health. She stands just five feet tall,
but her dainty exterior belies the inner determination that
has erupted through the surface of her ill-health.
"I think if you had said to me on the Friday
I went for the blood test that this would happen, like some
awful soap opera plot, I would have thought that I would never
have coped with it." But she has. "She has surprised me,"
admits Charlie, a computer studies teacher. "She has been
so brilliant... strength, that's what it is... amazing strength
just to carry on and do what she has to do for herself and
her pregnancy and for everybody else as well. She has come
to terms with so much."
Vanessa was kept in hospital that first weekend
of her diagnosis. Charlie had to leave to tell the family
and she was left alone with her thoughts. Her first was for
her two little girls. She didn't want them to be left without
a mother. In those first hours, when her life began spinning
out of control, Vanessa assumed she would start chemotherapy
the next week. "When you get a diagnosis like that you just
think well, that's it. You have to have chemo or you don't
get better." But when she met her consultant two days later,
he gave more options. Certainly, chemotherapy was one. Termination
was another.
The Loves knew almost immediately termination
wouldn't be their choice. They have a religious faith, but
while that was a factor, it wasn't the major influence. "We
have a belief in God and a faith that this is going to work
out for us, that we're going to get through it with His help,"
says Charlie. "But I don't think we had any big pro-life drama
going on. It was more about looking at the options and what
would be the best outcome for us as people." As people, they
were parents. They had seen the scan of their babies just
days before diagnosis. It was bound to have an impact.
"We discussed termination because we had to
discuss everything, but we didn't spend much time on it,"
explains Vanessa. "We knew it was twins and there wasn't really
any choice. I just had to carry on." But which was stronger
- her survival instinct or her maternal one? What if chemotherapy
had been the only way to save her own life? "I don't know,"
she says hesitantly, "I really don't know."
When Charlie is asked what he wanted Vanessa
to do, he says the most important thing was that it was her
decision. "I know her really well. I think I usually know
what she's going to do next. But I said to her at the time,
'This is happening to YOU Vanessa. You need to decide what
you want to do. The most important thing is how you feel about
it and what you can deal with and cope with.'" But what was
his gut instinct? That she would try to save both the babies
and herself. "When we spoke to the hospital they said, 'We'll
always try to go for the most successful outcome for you first.'
They wouldn't put Vanessa at risk. So there was a bit more
security in that." Charlie smiles a lot. He looks like a man
who has just left a casino after a night of slowly losing
a fortune that at the last minute he won back on the final
turn of the roulette wheel. It's not straightforward happiness;
there is relief in there and more than a little wonder, even
bewilderment. Vanessa says it's easier to cope with disaster
when it's happening to you, that she could not have coped
had it been one of her family. "I couldn't have coped if it
had been you," she tells her husband. Charlie just smiles,
reaching out one finger from where he leans on her bed to
gently stroke her knee. Vanessa's decision to take ATRA instead
of chemotherapy was a leap of faith. "We were in limbo for
an awful long time." The first test was done six weeks after
taking the drug. "The first bone marrow aspiration showed
the leukaemia cells had lessened but were still present. I
think we were both hoping that I would take the tablets and
that would be it. A miracle. "It was another six weeks till
we got another test but we just had to keep going. The next
one showed the cells were leukaemia free and that was great.
It wasn't very long, but it seemed like a long time and that
was the worst time for me." The treatment worked exactly as
doctors planned. The drug would put Vanessa into remission
until the babies were born, and afterwards she could then
begin a course of chemotherapy. But, naturally, the Loves
still had worries about the possible impact of ATRA on the
babies. Low birth weight was one potential side effect. The
plan was to try to get to at least 34 weeks before delivery.
Nature, however, had other plans. On Friday, May 13, Vanessa
was taken into hospital complaining of severe pain. She was
kept in hospital for tests and by Monday it was apparent that
there was a problem with her bowel. One baby was lying on
each side of her stomach but her bowel sat in a band across
it, and was so heavy it was like carrying a third child. She
was taken straight from X-ray to theatre. "I didn't have much
time to think about it which was probably good. I just remember
the mask going on and thinking, what next?" The babies were
only 30 weeks, a crucial four weeks short of the hoped-for
delivery. The Loves were desperately hoping surgery could
be done without prompting delivery. But the surgeon made clear
to Charlie that was unlikely. "A peace came over me straight
away when he said we were not going to have any choice," recalls
Charlie. "That was fine. That was going to happen." There
was an element of relief. "She was in such pain, such agony.
She was exhausted and I was so worried about her. I didn't
know what they were going to find." Was he preparing to lose
her? He pauses. "I think I was actually. I think I was." He
was in a room next to theatre when the babies were delivered.
Someone kept sticking their head out of the door to update
him. Then he saw Blake lifted out. The baby was wheeled past
him in an incubator to a waiting ambulance. Doctors had expected
a birth weight of over two pounds. But Blake was 3lb 9oz.
Rohan followed one minute later. "I could see immediately
he was smaller," says Charlie, though even he was 3lb 5oz.
Vanessa remained in surgery. Her bowel condition is one which
develops in the womb; she was the oldest presentation of it
that doctors had seen. She had gone to surgery not knowing
what doctors would find, or what would happen to her babies.
When she woke, her first thought was of the change in her
body. "I really had the sensation of oh gosh, they're not
there." Wired up to various tubes, she had to wait three days
before undergoing a painful wheelchair journey to a separate
building where the babies were. When Vanessa was diagnosed,
Charlie recalls the list she made of things she hadn't done
in life yet. Joined a gym. Travelled. They had both been to
Venice separately but she wanted to go together. They are
hopeful they will one day make that journey. "The chances
for Vanessa are really good," says Charlie. "Things are really
positive." She will start her chemotherapy in two weeks. "The
drug put her in remission but it doesn't cure the cause of
the leukaemia. Hopefully, chemotherapy will flush the problem
away." Vanessa thinks their relationship has changed a little.
"Charlie was always a bit stronger than I was. I think that's
maybe shifted a little." And what does Charlie think? "I just
love her to pieces," he says. "I always have." Unaware of
just how hard their two baby brothers have been fought for,
Amber and Megan Love are less than impressed by the family
additions. "Are they still boys?" Megan asked after one scan,
hopeful that some miracle might have transformed male chromosomes
into female ones. Miracles seem not impossible in the Love
household. A 10-minute walk from Vanessa's room, Blake and
Rohan Love lie in the special-care unit. Vanessa has been
told she can go home, but the twins will remain here at least
another six or seven weeks. Until then, life revolves around
the hospital. They are in separate rooms in the unit, Blake
already stronger and less dependent than Rohan. Blake is tiny,
pink, beautiful in his miniature perfection; but it is perhaps
Rohan who stabs most keenly at your heart. Rohan with the
concert-pianist fingers, who lies asleep in just a nappy,
his matchstick legs bare. Periodically he starts from sleep,
his arms and legs kicking out as though an imaginary current
has passed through him. It is like looking into a glass nest
at a tiny, unfeathered bird, fragile as cracked eggshell.
It makes you think of his mother, that delicacy, and if you
wish anything for Rohan as you look at the ventilator helping
him breathe, it is that he has been gifted even half of her
fighting spirit.
Rare identical
triplets go home
BBC News : February
9th 2005
Identical triplets, born to an Essex mother
at odds of two million to one, have arrived home from hospital.
Brothers Stephen, Brian and Robert are extremely
rare, because they are identical boys conceived naturally.
At 40, their mother Linda Pierson, of Rochford, Essex, had
given up dreams of motherhood after trying unsuccessfully
for years to have children. When her "little fighters" were
born at Southend Hospital in November 2004 they had a combined
weight of 9lb. The triplets were born two and a half months
early and spent seven weeks in a special care unit before
being allowed to go home.
"I'd always felt positive from the moment I
found out I was expecting them. I knew they were all going
to be okay," said Ms Pierson. "I go through 30 nappies a day,
and make up 18 bottles at least - and that's just for their
milk," she added. The triplets father, Ron Humphries, said
the cost of raising the boys was going to be "astronomical"
but "well worth it." "Nobody gets a chance of having three
boys together," he said. "As long as they don't want me to
play football, because by the time they're old enough to play
football I don't think I'll be able to play it - but I can
watch," he added. "Give them instructions!"
Julia And Twins
Go Home
Sky news : January 2005
Julia Roberts has finally taken her twins home
from hospital after a frightening health scare involving one
of the babies. Phinnaeus Walter and Hazel Patricia arrived
home with Roberts and their dad Danny Moder on Monday after
being born five weeks early.
According to People magazine, Hazel weighed
4lb 5oz, slightly less than her brother, and was kept in an
incubator for the first week of her life. Roberts and Mr Moder
stayed at the hospital around the clock to keep tabs on their
daughter. The alert was reportedly due to breathing difficulties.
Pretty Woman star Roberts stayed away from the Hollywood premiere
of her new movie Ocean's Twelve because of the trauma. The
37-year-old has not said when she plans to return to work.
Her twins were born at the Cedars Sinai Medical
Centre in Los Angeles on November 28 but they had not been
due until early January. Miss Roberts' spokeswoman was unavailable
for comment
Twins phenomenon
sparks genetic investigation
Ananova : Thursday 13th
January, 2005
Genetic scientists in northern India are studying
a village with a population of 800 to investigate why it has
40 pairs of living twins. It is believed there is a high rate
of inbreeding in Umri, a mostly Muslim village near Allahabad.
The study hopes to be able to discover if there is a certain
gene, or genes, responsible for twinning. Hasina and Madina,
the first twins in the village, were born nearly 62 years
ago.
Nassu, a 30-year-old man, whose twin brother
died in an accident some years ago, said: "At one time we
had 60 pairs of twins" A team of scientists from the Centre
for Cellular and Molecular Biology (CCMB), Hyderabad, are
visiting the village to collect blood samples of the twins
and their parents for DNA analysis. The team found one family
with 10 children, four of whom were born twins, all girls,
which they describe as "a very rare event." The scientists
also want to examine the genetic basis for the difference
in the behaviour of twins and their susceptibility to diseases.
The Asian Age quotes CCMB Director, Lalji Singh, as saying:
"One out of 10 persons in this village was born a twin and
the twinning phenomenon continues. Umri could be a genetic
gold mine."
Twins, 2, die in drawer accident.
Thursday, 30 September, 2004
Two-year-old twins were killed when a chest of drawers fell
on them while they were playing. William John and Betsy Louise
Woodbridge, who only turned two last month, were trying to
climb on the drawers when the accident happened. Their parents,
Paul and Louise, are being comforted at their home in Winkfield,
Berkshire. An inquest into the incident on Monday was opened
and adjourned, and will be reopened at a date to be confirmed.
A Thames Valley Police spokesman said after initial inquiries
the deaths were not being treated as suspicious. It is believed
the youngsters had pulled the drawers out of the chest and
used them as steps to get to the top. The Sun newspaper has
reported that the brother and sister had been put to bed earlier
in the afternoon but had woken up and started playing in their
bedroom.
Copyright © 2005 Ananova Ltd
Twins enjoy double
grade success
BBC News: Thursday 19th
August 2004
Twin brothers are celebrating after scoring
an identical number of A-grades in identical A-level subjects.
Now Hadi and Mahdi Godazgar from York are off to the city's
university to do the same degree in Maths and Physics. The
pair have more reason than most to celebrate because they
did not learn English until they moved to England from Iran
when they were eight.
A York College spokesman said the twins' success
was down to the hard work they had put into their studies.
The pair had made an enormous contribution to the college,
he added. "We are absolutely delighted for them and we wish
them well as they go on to York University," the spokesman
said. The twins scored A grades in Maths, Further Maths, Physics,
Biology and Chemistry
Twins gain
identical degrees
BBC News : Friday 30th
July 2004
Twins Francesca and Georgina Brown are proving
they are as close as sisters can be - they have both gained
the same degree from the same university. The 22-year-olds,
from Marton in Middlesbrough, earned degrees in social science
from Teesside University. But now they are to go their separate
ways - Francesca wants to use her degree in Psychology and
Criminology to land a job in the public sector. While Georgina,
older by five minutes, wants to do a masters in Criminology.
Georgina said: "We've always been close, with
no big conflicts. "When we were little we'd both draw pictures
and ask our parents, Celine and Dave, whose picture was the
best. "They'd always say both." Francesca added: "We have
the same sense of humour and I can't understand how twins
couldn't get on. "But the one big difference is that we go
for different types of boyfriend. "At university we were in
some of the same lectures together, but our ideas and essays
were always totally different."
After leaving Nunthorpe School, in Middlesbrough,
at 16 the girls attended St Mary's Sixth Form College where
they both achieved GNVQs in Health and Social Care. They then
both enrolled on a nursing course, but gave it up after three
months. Francesca explained: "After three months we both realised
it wasn't the right career for us, but for different reasons."
Cambridge for triple
A triplets
BBC News : Thursday 19th
August 2004
Identical triplets from Cornwall have won places
at Cambridge University. The 18-year-old trio from Truro College
in Cornwall all achieved three As at A-level to take up their
offers to read medicine, law and natural sciences. Lil, Helen
and Kate Armstrong are the first sets of triplets to win places
at Cambridge. Helen, who will read law at Corpus Christi,
said: "I am speechless - it's just a great relief to finally
know we're all going." 
Helen, whose A grades were in English literature, geography
and law, did work experience at secondary school in a law
office in Truro. Lil achieved A grades in biology, chemistry
and geography and will be reading medicine at Selwyn College.
She says she would like to be a doctor, working in a hospital
and is particularly interested in paediatrics. She said: "I
am extremely excited about going to Cambridge and also a little
nervous, but at least my sisters will be there for support."
Kate will be studying natural sciences at Trinity Hall after
getting As in chemistry, human biology and physics. She said:
"I am amazed and delighted that we have all achieved these
grades, which would not have been possible without the excellent
staff at Richard Lander School and Truro College."
The triplets' father, Royal Cornwall Hospital
biomedical scientist Tim Armstrong, 45, said: "I think it
has been a great help that there are three of them, because
they work off each other and ask each other questions. "There
is an element of competition there as well. We never have
to tell them to study."
The IVF twins
who have five parents
By TIM UTTON
Daily Mail, 13th September 2004
A pair of twins have become the first children in Britain
to have five parents. Born through fertility treatment, they
have two fathers and three mothers, it was revealed yesterday.
One of their three "mothers" is their grandmother, who has
given birth to her own grandchildren. In a landmark ruling,
the High Court has just granted an infertile couple an adoption
order that makes them the legal parents.
Bryan Woodward, the embryologist who supervised the treatment
at the Middle England Fertility Centre in Leicester, said:
"It is a very unusual arrangement. We went through all sorts
of ethical hoops, but it was clear it was the right thing
to do. This couple has been through the most terrible traumas."
The twins began as frozen embryos, donated at a fertility
clinic by a couple who had had successful test-tube baby treatment.
Having become "surplus to requirements", the embryos were
made available to the infertile couple. But the woman, 27,
had undergone radiotherapy and courses of toxic drugs to cure
a childhood cancer. And after years of fertility treatment
and four unsuccessful IVF treatments using donated eggs, it
became clear her womb was not capable of carrying any pregnancy.
So she turned to her 44-year-old mother, who had not yet reached
the menopause.
The embryos were implanted in her womb and she gave birth
by caesarean section three weeks early to the twins, who weighed
4lb 11oz and 4lb 12oz. None of the patients has been identified.
It has taken three years since the twins' birth in 2001 for
the High Court to pronounce on their legal status and grant
the infertile couple an adoption order, says the journal Reproductive
Biomedicine Online.
Thus the babies have five parents: the couple from whose
sperm and eggs they were created, the woman who carried them
and the couple who are now legally their parents. Mr Woodward
said: "If appropriate, the combination of these therapies
(embryo donation, IVF and surrogacy) can be used to alleviate
childlessness where other treatment options are limited."
The case pushes the boundaries of what is ethically acceptable
in fertility treatment. Some critics claim the work of IVF
clinics is "redefining the concept of the family".
Last night a spokesman for Comment on Reproductive Ethics
said: "We are looking at the total disintegration of social
and family values."
I'm proud to bear
daughter's twins, says surrogate mother
The Daily Telegraph :
By Michael Day and David Orr 01/02/2004
The grandmother who gave birth to her daughter's
twins has defended her decision to go through with the pregnancy,
saying last night that it was the "best thing" she had ever
done. Rhadha Patel, 46, gave birth to her grandchildren, Neal
and Nandine, two weeks ago at the Akanksha infertility clinic
in Anand, Gujarat. She had offered to carry eggs taken from
her daughter Lata, 26, and fertilised by her son-in-law, Aakash
Nagla, 30, when the couple discovered that they could not
have children.
Lata, who lives with her husband in Ilford,
Essex, has Rokitansky syndrome, a rare condition that causes
the uterus to develop abnormally. From her home in Gujarat,
Mrs Patel said she had had doubts beforehand because of her
age and the moral and cultural dilemma posed but her husband,
Chandra, urged her to do it for their daughter's sake. She
said: "These babies are a miracle and I have brought so much
joy to my family. "Some people may say that what I have done
is wrong. But when I handed the twins to Lata I knew it was
the best thing I have ever done. "My daughter is so, so happy
and I have seen the smile on her face that I wish every mother
could see."My daughter was waiting outside the delivery room.
She heard the babies' first cries and outside I could hear
her weeping."
The twins will be granted visas allowing their
return to family's Essex home within two months, it emerged
yesterday. Dr Nanya Patel, the IVF specialist who carried
out the fertility treatment, said that officials at the British
High Commission in New Delhi had taken "a very sympathetic
view" of the family's requests for the swift provision of
visas that would enable the twins to return to Ilford. Dr
Patel, the clinic's medical director, said last night that
the babies "were very healthy and doing very well".
The twins are officially registered as the children
of their grandparents but the genetic parents have begun steps
to adopt them. The High Commission said that visas would be
necessary for the twins' return to Britain because until they
are adopted by their genetic parents the children would bear
the surname of their grandparents. They would therefore be
regarded as Indian citizens.
Couple fear twins born to grandmother in
India will not be allowed to stay in UK
The Scotsman, Tuesday
27th July 2004
THE British family of test-tube twins who made
headlines after they were born to their grandmother fear the
children have an uncertain future in the UK, according to
reports. The birth of Neal and Nandini Nagla in January this
year hit the news after their grandmother, Rhadha Patel, gave
birth to them in Gujarat. The twins’ biological parents, Lata
and Aakash Nagla, from Ilford in Essex, had tried desperately
to find a surrogate, and turned to Mrs Nagla’s mother. They
have reportedly been refused a UK passport for the youngsters
because English law regards the birth mother as the legal
parent, and the 46-year-old grandmother is Indian.
The twins are now in Essex, having been granted
a fixed-term visa for a year - but when it runs out they could
be ordered to leave the country. Mr Nagla, who works in a
London shoe shop, said: "We cannot be sure about the babies’
future in this country. "I am British, their father is British
and my own grandfather was British. "I don’t understand why
we had to go through all this trouble to get them here. "It
would take three years to adopt them and anyway, why should
we have to? "They are our children by birth and we have no
need to prove that with a bit of paperwork."
His wife was unable to give birth because of
the gynaecological disorder Rokitansky syndrome. Her mother
was implanted in a private clinic with an embryo formed from
Mrs Nagla’s eggs and Mr Nagla’s sperm. Mrs Nagla said earlier
this year: "My mother has made my dream come true. I will
never be able to thank her enough, never. It is simply a miracle
and God has answered our prayers. We have been given two beautiful
gifts." Her mother said she went ahead after encouragement
from her husband, Chandrar. A spokesman for the Home Office
said it did not comment on individual cases, but said under
the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Act the surrogate and
her husband - not the commissioning couple - were recognised
as the parents of the child. He added the biological parents
could adopt them.
Woman with two
wombs has twins months apart
The Daily Telegraph :
Monica Petrescu in Iasi 09/01/2005
A woman with two wombs has made medical history
by becoming simultaneously pregnant in each of them - and
is on course to deliver the second of her twins, two months
after the first.
Eight years ago Maricia Tescu was told that
she would never have children because, doctors said, a miscarriage
had left her infertile. Now Mrs Tescu, a 33-year-old botanist
in Iasi, Romania, has a month-old son, Catalin, and her second
baby, also a boy, is due in five weeks. Although one woman
in 50,000 is born with a double uterus, Dr Dragos Dragomir,
who heads the Cuza Voda hospital in Iasi, said: "This case
is unique because women with a malformation like this cannot
usually have babies in both wombs. "Not only did a pregnancy
occur in each uterus but they evolved simultaneously and one
of the babies was born without affecting the other. Instead
of being born minutes apart, these twins will be born months
apart. One will have his birthday in 2004 and the other in
2005."
Catalin weighed 3lbs 9oz when he was born prematurely
last month and is in an incubator, but he is developing normally.
Mrs Tescu and her husband, Gindurel, a factory foreman, lost
a girl six months into a previous pregnancy seven years ago
but never gave up hope of having a child. Then Mrs Tescu discovered
that she was pregnant again.
"When the first scan showed that I had a baby
in each of the two wombs, my husband actually thought the
scenario of me losing the baby would be repeated," she said.
"We calmed down only after I gave birth to Catalin." The couple
live in a one-bedroom bungalow in the village of Cirlig, just
outside Iasi. They earn €150 (£105) a month from their jobs
and make a little extra from selling vegetables and poultry
from an allotment. Mrs Tescu is thinking up nicknames for
the children she never expected to have, taken from Snow White
and the Seven Dwarves. "Catalin will be Bashful and my unborn
child will be Grumpy," she said.
Parents win payout in IVF case.
Friday November 17, 2000
An unprecedented compensation claim was yesterday awarded
to a South Yorkshire couple who had triplets after fertility
treatment. In a landmark case, Patricia and Peter Thompson
sued the Sheffield fertility centre for breach of contract
after they conceived three babies instead of the hoped-for
one or two. The triplets, two boys and a girl were born in
March 1997.
The couple claimed the exhausting task of looking after three
babies forced the couple, from Thrybergh, South Yorkshire,
to give up the family news agency business and put a huge
strain on their resources. The couple told the high
court in Sheffield how they had signed an agreement at their
initial consultation in 1996 that two embryo's would be implanted.
But the clinic the court that Mrs Thompson had later agreed
verbally with the doctor performing the procedure that three
should be inserted to give a better chance of success.
Mr Justice Hooper accepted the Thompsons' evidence and ruled
that the fertility clinic had breached its contract with the
couple. "For reasons that I shall give later, the claimant
has shown on the balance of probabilities that she did not
agree to the replacement of three embryos," he said.
The Thompsons, who are on legal aid, were claiming compensation
for lost earnings and the cost of raising the third child.
They were able to sue for breach of contract because they
paid for their IVF treatment, which cost them £1,600. Had
they been treated on the NHS, that option would not have been
open to them.
The law lords ruled last year that parents who have an unwanted
child as a result of medical negligence cannot claim the cost
of bringing up the child. But they left open the possibility
that this might not apply in a breach of contract case.
The Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority is concerned
about the increase in multiple births through fertility treatment,
because twins and triplets are more likely to be born prematurely.
"The guidance is to take all possible steps to minimise the
risk of multiple pregnancies," said Jane Denton of the Multiple
Births Society. "The key thing is that it is discussed fully
with the parents."
The IVF expert Lord Winston said: "This is not a criticism
of the Sheffield unit, but our policy for the last 14 years
has been to transfer only two embryos at the Hammersmith.
But we are unusual. Most clinics don't agree with such a rigid
policy. It does mean we have a lower success rate."
Mr Thompson, 57, has three grown-up children from a previous
marriage. He and his wife, now 34, tried IVF after attempting
unsuccessfully for five years to have a child. Mrs Thompson
said she learned that three embryos had been implanted only
after the 10-minute procedure. She said: "I think two is more
than enough for anyone to have, I just wanted two babies or
a baby." In 1998, she unexpectedly conceived a fourth baby,
a daughter, naturally. She said: "I am delighted with our
children, who are fit and healthy, but the effort of looking
after three children rather than the maximum of two that we
had planned is absolutely exhausting and stretches our physical
resources."
The amount of compensation will be decided at a later
hearing.
Conjoined Twins Separated.
Tuesday November 7, 2000
Surgeons and medical teams at St. Mary's Hospital in Manchester
worked for 20 hours yesterday to separate the conjoined twins
known as Jodie and Mary. The operation ended early today and
Jodie was said to be in a "critical but stable condition".
Her weaker sister Mary died as a result of the separation
process.
"Unfortunately, despite all the efforts of the medical team,
Mary sadly died," a hospital spokesman said. "As with all
major surgery, the first few days following an operation are
the most critical and our thoughts remain with Jodie and her
parents."
Their parents, who opposed the operation for religious reasons,
said their goodbyes to Mary before the operation started yesterday
morning. The twins were born at St Mary's hospital in Manchester
in August after their mother and father travelled to Britain
from the Maltese island of Gozo in search of specialist help.
where they were born three months ago.Conjoined twin .
Jodie will now need extensive skin grafts and surgery but
doctors say she could be of normal intelligence, able to walk,
have children and have an average life expectancy. The legal
battle to save her began shortly after the twins were born
with fused spines, joined at the abdomen and with arms and
legs at right angles to their upper bodies.
Doctors from St Mary's went to the high court in August and
won the right to operate despite the objection of the parents,
who are strict Roman Catholics. They challenged the
decision in a privately funded appeal the following month,
but lost after agonising deliberations by the three judges
involved who decided Mary must die to save the life of her
stronger sister.
An 11th hour appeal was lodged by the ProLife Alliance last
Friday but it also failed to halt the surgery.
Twins born one month apart
Tuesday June 13, 2000
A mother was yesterday celebrating the birth of her second
twin almost a month after the first was born 14 weeks prematurely.
In what is believed to be the biggest delivery time gap between
twins in British history, Sandra Beveridge gave birth to her
daughter, Chloe, on Sunday, June 11. The girl was some way
behind her brother, Edward, who was born on May 14, weighing
just 1lb 12oz.
Although twins being born so far apart is not unprecedented,
a spokeswoman for the Royal College of Midwives said she had
no experience of a case with such a time gap between delivery.
Generally when a woman begins delivering twins, the uterus
contracts and expels both babies. But, because of Edward's
tiny size, the uterus did not close fully and Chloe was left
in the womb.
The biggest delay recorded by the Royal College of Midwives
between the birth of twins in Britain is 10 days and doctors
at Edinburgh's Simpson memorial maternity pavilion expected
Ms Beveridge to give birth to her daughter within a few days.
They sent her home to Livingston, West Lothian, to rest, and
on Sunday doctors - fearing infection from Edward's placenta,
which was still in the womb - performed a caesarean section.
A hospital spokeswoman said Chloe and her mother were "stable".
The world record for difference in twins' birth dates lies
with US mother Peggy Lynn who had her babies 84 days apart
in 1995 and 1996.
Twin sues Twin
Wednesday July 21, 1999
Don't mix business with pleasure - and certainly not with
family. The first rule of work is that business and
blood bonds do not work.
Timothy Combes found this out when he hired his twin brother
Andrew, 20 minutes his junior, as a toolmaker in the family
firm. Ten years later and the brothers found themselves at
a tribunal after Andrew was sacked and sued his big brother
for unfair dismissal. "Because he was my brother, I extended
him a good deal of leeway that other employees would not have
had," Timothy told the Southampton tribunal on Monday.
The 49-year-old boss of an engineering company recounted
how, whenever he tried to complain about his twin's alleged
lack of punctuality or serial affairs with female employees,
Andrew would drown him out by singing loudly or regressing
to the tactics of their boyhood scuffs by punching him in
the head.
Being employed by a family member, traditionally perceived
as the easy route into the job market, is more often a nightmare,
turning the corporate environment into a personal one and
making every chance comment an insult in waiting.
"It is very difficult working with your family," says Dr
Sandi Mann, a psychologist at the University of Central Lancashire,
"because there is no way you can maintain objectivity with
them."
The Combes twins left their tribunal separately yesterday,
after settling their dispute out of court - Timothy is to
pay Andrew £2,000 and write him a letter of apology. But although
an agreement may have been reached, it's unlikely they'll
be sharing a roast this Sunday.
"It's very difficult given all the outside connections for
someone to sack or reprimand a relative and it doesn't end
when the relative has left the company," says Professor Cooper.
"When it goes wrong like this, it can be horrendous."
One thing is for sure: sack your sibling and you'll never
be allowed to forget it.
Twins Die in Hostel Blaze
Twins Kellie and Stacey Slarke, 22 were among those killed
in a June fire at a hostel in Queensland, Australia.
An itinerant Australian fruitpicker was charged with two counts
of murder and one of arson on Friday after the blaze in which
15 mainly foreign backpackers died.
Court official John McDonald said Robert Long, 37, of no
fixed address, appeared before Bundaberg Magistrates Court
charged with the murders of Western Australian and arson.
The twins were among four Australians, six Britons, one Irish
national, two Dutch, one Korean and one Japanese who died
in the fire at the Palace Backpackers Hostel in Childers,
300 km (185 miles) north of Brisbane, shortly after midnight
on June 23. About 70 others survived the blaze by kicking
open locked doors, squeezing through barred windows, and fleeing
over adjoining roofs.
"He has been charged with two counts of murder and one of
arson and other stealing charges," McDonald told Reuters.
Long was remanded in custody for a further hearing on November
7 when he is not required to appear. At that time the court
will set a date for trial, expected to be held early next
year.
Identical twins found guilty of burglary
Monday 6th March 2000
Identical twins who committed £100,000 worth of burglaries
together were given identical sentences today.
Timothy and Daniel Kempster, 18, from Highcliffe, Hants,
admitted five break-ins and asked for 39 similar offences
to be taken into consideration. Mr Recorder Frank Moat sentenced
the pair to two-and-a-half years' youth custody at Winchester
Crown Court. He told them: "These offences are so serious
that only a custodial sentence can be justified."
After the case, police revealed that since the twins' arrest
the burglary rate had dropped "through the floor" in the city.
Mr David Steenson, defending the twins, who had identified
houses they had burgled, said the offences had been committed
to finance their heroin habit but since they had been in custody
they were now drug-free and full of remorse.
Father of twins, at just 13
Friday 3rd December 1999
A boy of 13 has become Britain's youngest father of twins.
He said today that the news had come "as a nice shock".
The boy, who has been seeing his 17-year-old girlfriend for
two years, added: "I was quite happy when I found out, although
it wasn't planned. My mum wasn't angry. My friends weren't
sure about it. I think they are a bit jealous."
The boy, from Manchester, who cannot be named, said he was
not at the birth of the identical twin girls but was looking
forward to bringing them up when they come home from hospital.
He added: "We'll learn what to do as we go along. Our families
are helping out." The twins mother said: "I was thrilled to
bits when I found out. I can't wait for the girls to come
home so I can be with them all the time."
The babies were conceived in April and were born five weeks
prematurely at Wythenshawe Hospital, Manchester, earlier this
week. The infants are in the special care baby unit.
Manchester social workers have begun an inquiry. A spokesman
for Manchester City Council said: "We are ready to help if
necessary."
Murdered mother pregnant with twins
Murdered mother Christine Askey, found strangled in her bath
at home, was 16 weeks pregnant with twins, police revealed
today. The 20-year-old single parent is not thought to have
known she was carrying twins, although she had told her family
she was expecting a baby.
She had kept the identity of the unborn children's father
from her relatives, and Detective Superintendent Paul Buschini
today launched an appeal for him to contact them and help
them to solve the murder.
Miss Askey's naked body was discovered in the house she shared
with her three-year-old son Cameron on Monday morning by her
mother, Pauline Coombes. Cameron was alone in the house and
sitting on the stairs. Specially trained police, with the
help of doctors and health and social workers, today met to
decide how Cameron should be questioned, to try to discover
if he holds vital clues to the killer's identity.
Mr Buschini said it was difficult to know whether the child
had witnessed anything significant. "I am obviously keen to
listen to what Cameron may or may not have to tell us but
we have to consider the boy's welfare, which is paramount,"
he said.
"We have been treating him with kid gloves. You can imagine
the possible trauma this little boy is going through. It is
more for the experts than the police, hence today's strategy
meeting."
Cameron is being cared for by his grandmother.
Miss Askey was beaten, strangled and discovered lying face
down in the bath at the house in Preston, but police do not
believe she was sexually attacked. She was last seen alive
at 8pm on Sunday when her 15-year-old sister visited her.
Miss Askey was said to have lived a quiet life and was not
known to visit pubs and clubs. Mr Buschini said today she
had been devoted to her son. A friend, who declined to be
named, said: "Christine's life revolved around Cameron." Neighbour
Julie Robinson said: "I don't think she had a current boyfriend."
Forensic experts were today carrying out a room-by-room examination.
Mr Buschini, who does not know the identity of the unborn
children's father, said: "The response from the public has
been, in my opinion, very limited."
Disabled Siblings
Sue Health Authority
Bromley News Shopper,
9th August 2000
Three surviving quadruplets who were born severely
disabled are suing Bromley Health Authority for damages. They
claim their mother should not have been allowed to conceive
so many children, and should have been offered the opportunity
to "reduce" her pregnancy from four babies to two. In the
first case of it's kind, their solicitor will argue that if
Vivien Heath of Orpington had been given treatment to end
the lives of two of the quads before she gave birth three
months early, the remaining two would have lived longer in
the womb and would not have been born with disabilities. In
a separate action, 36 year old Vivien and her husband Clive
are claiming damages for the fertility advice they received
from John Erian, consultant in obstetrics and gynaecology
at Farnborough Hospital. Both cases are due to be heard in
October next year."
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