You’ll never believe it: What it’s really like to be a twin
Ever wondered what it would be like to have a second ‘me’ around?
‘I felt her labour pains’
Identical twins Donna Baguley and Nicola Allen, 45, live in Stockport.
Donna says: We’ve experienced a lot of strange ‘twin phenomena’. Once I had an arm injury from playing netball and came home in a cast to find Nicola complaining about her aching arm. I even felt her labour pains – I was walking around the office clutching my back in agony. We have so many great after-dinner stories.
Two years ago, I was diagnosed with breast cancer. As soon as I found out, I called Nicola. Although she must have been shocked and afraid, she was amazing all the way through my chemo and surgery, accompanying me to hospital. When I started losing my hair, she came over with pink Prosecco and hair clippers – it made it less frightening.
We did a 20-mile Pink Ribbonwalk together in May, and raised money for Breast Cancer Care. We called it my ‘victory walk’. I felt as though Nicola had been on the same rollercoaster as me – doing this felt like we’d come through the other side together.
Nicola and I have always felt as though we can talk to each other about anything. Before we had kids, I would stay over at her house every Wednesday night and we’d put the world to rights over a bottle of wine. Hopefully, when we are in our 80s, we will still be creating happy memories together.
Nicola says: When donna rang me to say she had cancer I was devastated. All I wanted to do was help and support her. Losing her was not an option – all I could think was, ‘There’s too much to live for, so she’s not going anywhere.’
When she was ill, we’d have nights on our own where she could break down and be honest with me without upsetting her husband or our other siblings. Our dad was fighting cancer at the time, too, and there was a lot of pressure, but we knew we always had each other to talk to in dark moments.
Because we are genetically so close, I was sent for tests too. In december 2015, a mark was found on my scan so I had to go back for further investigations. donna came with me and when I got the all-clear we punched the air together.
There are times as an identical twin where you feel you want to be an individual. But we’ve accepted that we aren’t that different. We buy the same clothes without consulting each other – we even turned up at our 40th birthday party in the same dress but in different colours. I love my other siblings dearly but the bond you have as an identical twin is unbeatable.
‘Nicola made chemo less frightening’