'Their daddy would be so proud', says widow, 22, who had dying husband's IVF twins

He was so desperate to be a father, however, that they went ahead with IVF treatment.

She was three months' pregnant with twins when Mr Nicklin lost his fight for life at the age of 24.

Now life is one long round of feeding, changing and bathing son John and daughter Hope, but yesterday the young widow insisted: 'I wouldn't change anything for the world.'

Mrs Nicklin, 22, from Oxford, added: 'Jamie was so proud when he knew I was pregnant with twins. He was worried that he wasn't going to survive to see them born, and I really wish he could have met them.

'I had to be strong': Widow Michelle with John, left, and Hope

'But they are the only part of him that I had and one day I will tell them all about their wonderful daddy.' 

Mr Nicklin, a chef, had been diagnosed with non-Hodgkin's lymphoma a few weeks before meeting his wife-to-be, and about to begin chemotherapy. As part of his treatment, he was offered the chance to have his sperm frozen in case he became infertile.

Mrs Nicklin, a care assistant, said: 'He was only 20, and really fit and sporty. He loved playing rugby, and it seemed so hard to believe that someone so young and fit could have cancer.

'But Jamie was optimistic that he would get better soon. And I thought he would get better too. He was just so young and full of life. 

'Fit and sporty': Jamie Nicklin with Michelle

'The chemotherapy was initially a success and for five months he was in remission. But then he started to feel tired again, and tests showed the cancer was back.'

Mr Nicklin was still having treatment when the couple married in September 2006, after which they started to talk about having a family. Then doctors delivered the devastating news that Mr Nicklin's cancer was terminal.

Mrs Nicklin said: 'We were devastated. But most of all Jamie wanted to have children, so we started to look into having IVF treatment.

'I wasn't daunted by the thought of being a single mother. The most important thing for me was to get pregnant with Jamie's baby before it was too late. The thing he wanted most in the world was to be a dad.'

Friends and family helped with the cost of private IVF treatment and, in June last year, doctors implanted two fertilised embryos in Mrs Nicklin's womb. 

'After two weeks I did a pregnancy test and it was positive,' she said. 'We were both over the moon.'

Within weeks, Mr Nicklin's health began to deteriorate rapidly. 'He so desperately wanted to see his babies born, but he just got weaker and weaker,' his wife added.

'He had his 24th birthday and I sat by his bedside and promised him that I would always look after our babies.

'Then, at the end of September, when I was three months' pregnant, he slipped away. I was devastated. I couldn't believe he was gone. But I knew that I had to be strong to look after our babies.

They were the only thing I had left of him.

'The first time they kicked at five months, I so wanted him to have been there. Instead, my mum Amanda and Jamie's mum Pauline were there, sharing every step of the way with me. I have never felt alone with both of them there. They have supported me all the way through.'

The twins were born in March at the John Radcliffe Hospital in Oxford, John weighing 5lb 9oz and Hope 4lb 10oz.

'It was so emotional when I saw them for the first time. said Mrs Nicklin. 'They were so beautiful and I know that Jamie would have been so proud of them both.

'I fulfilled his last wish of being a father, and now I'll always have his son and daughter with me.'