‘It was all so quick – it’s still not sunk in that we’ve lost our boys’

AGRIEVING mum and dad have shared their heartbreak after their twin boys died months apart.

Carol and Norman PlumptonWalsh, from Runcorn, found out they were having identical twins on December 23, 2020, who they later named Archie and Elliott.

Sadly after a number of complications, Carol and Norman’s son Archie died on April 15, 2021 when she was 24 weeks pregnant.

Tragically, twin Elliott died at fivemonths-old on September 17, 2021 after he battled with prematurity and chronic lung disease.

Carol, 39, Norman, 43, and friends and family are now raising money for Liverpool Women’s Hospital and Claire House, who they want to thank for their “love and support” and to do something in Archie and Elliott’s memory.

Speaking of her heartbreak, Carol said: “For me everything happened so quickly, I don’t think it has fully sunk in yet even though it happened a while ago.”

Due to certain risks associated with identical twin pregnancies, Carol had be scanned twice a week to check for twin to twin transfusion syndrome and selective intrauterine growth restriction.

It was around 16 weeks into Carol’s pregnancy that doctors noticed there was a size and fluid difference between the twin boys – which are symptoms of twin to twin transfusion syndrome – which was monitored.

This is caused by abnormal connecting blood vessels in the twins’ placenta and results in an imbalanced blood flow from one twin (known as the donor) to the other (recipient), leaving one baby with a greater blood volume than the other.

At just over 23 weeks pregnant, the twin to twin transfusion syndrome had gotten to the stage where Carol needed laser surgery to try and save both babies and she was sent to King’s College London Hospital for surgery the next day.

Unfortunately within the hour after surgery baby Archie died.

Carol said: “They try to do this surgery as late on in the pregnancy as possible as there is a risk of waters breaking early – the laser probe is pushed through the skin into the sack to access the placenta.

“Unfortunately, within the hour after the surgery, Archie had passed away, he was the smaller donor twin and also had a smaller share of the placenta. This was at 24 weeks on April 15, 2021.

“At this time, we didn’t know they were boys. We found out a few days later so we could give Archie a name.”

At 25 weeks, Carol’s waters broke and she was rushed to hospital where she stayed for three days, but did not go into labour and was allowed to go home.

On May 1, 2021, Carol gave birth to Elliott followed by “sleeping angel” Archie.

Carol said: “Elliott was 970g or 2lb and 1oz. He came out fighting, breathing on his own and crying. His arrival was met by 12 members of staff.”

After his birth, Elliott was placed on a ventilator for around two weeks, where Carol said he did “really well” and was later moved to a low dependency unit at eight-weeks-old.

However, Elliott had a setback when doctors said he had a rhinovirus infection which meant he was put on a high dependency unit and CPAP machine.

Elliott managed to beat the virus and doctors even discussed the option of the family bringing their baby boy home.

However, a few weeks later, he was placed back on a high dependency unit after he started to deteriorate and began to become more poorly “very quickly” and within a week needed to be placed on a ventilator.

Elliott’s hole in his heart, which had begun to close, reopened and this alongside his severe chronic lung disease “made his fight much harder,” Carol said.

Sadly, Elliott died in hospital on September 17, 2021.

Now Carol and Norman plan to raise £40,000 in time for Carol’s 40th birthday in memory of Archie and Elliott and as a thank you for Liverpool Women’s Hospital and Claire House, who supported the couple.

Norman’s cousin Dom Watson and a group of friends and family have pulled together to organise a match against Wigan Athletic’s ladies team.

The match will be a 5pm kick off at Sandymoor Orminston Academy 3D pitch in Runcorn on May 13, 2022.

Dom said the family are also on the look out for anyone who would like to get involved to help them in their fundraising through donations for raffle prizes or to get a big name or sports star who could make an appearance on the day.

Fundraising efforts will continue into the night at local venue and Dom said this is also open to the public. He can be contacted at dominicwatson1996@googlemail.com.