A woman pregnant with a rare type of conjoined twins has vowed she will not have an abortion because she believes her babies deserve every chance in life.
Sky News report
Doctors urged Lisa Chamberlain and her fiancé Mike Pedace to end the pregnancy after a scan last week showed she was carrying dicephalus twins which doctors only give a 20 per cent chance of survival.
Dicephalus twins share one body but have two heads. So far there is no record of this type of conjoined twins surviving after birth in the UK and doctors say they will make history if they survive.
But Miss Chamberlain said she did her own research and found the story of US twins Abi and Brittany Hensel, who were born with the same condition and are now 18.
She said: “Seeing their faces inspired me. It gave me hope that my two had a fighting chance.”
Miss Chamberlain said doctors “advised that I should have a termination mainly because it would save me heartache further down the line, but I’ve told them there’s no way I’m going to have a termination and I want to go ahead with my pregnancy.
“I believe everything happens for a reason and there was a reason why God chose me to be their mum and there’s absolutely no way I would consider an abortion.
“I’m very happy and proud of my twins and they deserve every chance in life,” she added.
Miss Chamberlain’s decision echoes that of Laura and Aled Williams who also refused doctor’s advice to have an abortion after they were told they were having conjoined twins.
Speaking before the girls were born, Mrs Williams said she was told to “get rid of them and if I didn’t get rid of them, they’d probably end up dying in me or I’d end up losing them before 16 weeks anyway”.
She said: “If they’re meant to be in this world and if they’ve come this far, we’ve got to hope they’ll make it the rest of the way.”
The twins, Faith and Hope Williams, were born in November. Sadly Hope died when doctors attempted an emergency separation and Faith died weeks later.
But the couple say they have no regrets about their decision.