Unborn Twins Diagnosed With A Life-Threatening Disease Surprise Everyone

It should go without saying that all expecting parents want to take comfort in knowing that everything going well during their pregnancy. So long as the babies are healthy, the parents are happy!

Unfortunately, there’s only so much control that parents can have over the safety of their unborn children. Even when they do everything right, there can still be complications.

Sarah and Dan Maund of the United Kingdom figured that their twins-to-be were fine—after all, they seemed to be waving in their scans! Yet the Maunds’ doctors soon revealed a terrible problem…

United Kingdom coupe Dan and Sarah Maund were thrilled to learn they were expecting twin boys, and even chose names: Henry and Sebastian. During the ultrasounds, the boys seemed perfectly healthy, and almost looked as if they were waving!

Unfortunately, all was not going as it seemed. The babies actually had a terrible condition called twin-to-twin transfusion syndrome, also known as TTTS. They may have looked happy and healthy, but they were actually suffering.

The illness causes one twin to receive too much blood while the other receives too little. It affects pregnancies in which embryos share the same placenta, and has a 60 to 100% mortality rate.

When they were finally born—which was a miracle all on its own—the twins had to receive immediate and constant medical care. They were administered plenty of medicine and Henry was even placed under a phototherapy lamp.

Luckily, with the right treatment—not to mention lots of love and support from their parents—both Henry and Sebastian survived infancy and are happy and healthy little boys!

Henry and Sebastian were extremely lucky, and on some level, they must have known it. Very few children with twin-to-twin transfusion syndrome make it as far as they have, but there is important work being done to research the illness.

The Twins and Multiple Births Association, otherwise known as TAMBA, is one such charity that works to help children and families struggling with TTTS, as well as provides resources for medical professionals.

Hopefully, with this organization’s help, fewer families will have to go through the tragedy of losing their babies.

The Maund boys have progressed in ways that no one could have imagined. They’ve come far—all the way from the womb to becoming rambunctious young toddlers. But there’s one thing they wish for that they don’t yet have…

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