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Given less than a 1% chance of survival at birth, twins healthy and happy seven months later

Nov 13, 2019

By Dave Andrusko

Joe and Ashley Keates, who each weighed less than a can of pop and were each the size of their mother Talia’s hand when born at 23 weeks, are fighting fit at seven months.

What a great way to end the day! Joe and Ashley Keates richly deserved the moniker “miracle twin boys.”

Born at 23 weeks and each weighing less than a pound, they “are both fighting fit at seven months old and living happily at home with their parents and four other siblings in Trowbridge, Wiltshire,” according to Martin Robinson of the Daily Mail.

Given as little as a 1% chance of survival by doctors at Southmead Hospital in Bristol, they “are believed to be the smallest newborns ever to survive in the UK.”

Mother Talia Keates, a nurse, told The Sun newspaper:

“Ashley and Joe are my bouncing little miracles.

“I feel extremely lucky and very grateful. I guess they are one in a million.

“It’s truly extraordinary to think I could have the world’s smallest twin boys.”

Husband Oliver added,

“It has been a very traumatic experience but we are just so truly grateful they are here.

“It has definitely brought us closer together as a family.

“We’ve been so blessed, they are our little miracle babies that complete our family.”

“Doctors feared for Joe when his separate amniotic sac ruptured prematurely,” The Sun reported, and they were rushed to critical care. After “a honeymoon period,” the week or so during which micropreemies are less likely to get infections, “the infections started to come, Mrs. Keates said. “It was awful, you never know if they are going to survive.

“We spent 129 days in the unit, and when they were stable enough we got transferred to a hospital closer to home. The boys are still on oxygen but that’s about it.

“Ashley was diagnosed with pulmonary hypertension, it’s all to do with his chronic lung disease.

“I don’t really know much about it, they both have chronic lung disease because they were born so premature.

“As they get bigger they will get over it because their lungs grow.

“When they were born they were a little longer than my hand but much thinner.

“But I wasn’t able to touch them at first. They said that if you touch them it really distresses them because their skin is so thin.

“I had to wait five weeks for a cuddle. They weren’t much bigger then though.

“I’m so grateful to Bristol Southmead hospital, they have been amazing, and the Royal United Hospital in Bath.”

Dr, Paul Mannix, the boys’ consultant , told the Sun, “The odds are stacked against such tiny babies, let alone when they are twins. But Joe and Ashley were real fighters and we were over the moon we could help them make such a miraculous journey to full health.”

Categories: Infants
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