Christmas vigil for surviving twin - News in brief - Evening Standard
       

Christmas vigil for surviving twin

Parents mourning the death of one of their conjoined twin daughters are spending Christmas at the bedside of her surviving sister as she fights for life.

Faith and Hope Williams were born on November 26. They were joined from the breastbone to the top of the navel and had a shared liver but separate hearts.

Hope died following surgery to separate the twins at the beginning of the month. Faith survived but remains seriously ill at Great Ormond Street Hospital.

Doctors had hoped to wait until they were older and stronger to operate but decided that their shared circulatory system and two separate hearts could make it risky.

Parents Laura and Aled have been at her bedside since the operation and are expected to maintain their vigil over the Christmas period.

Laura Williams, 18, from Shrewsbury, Shropshire, is Britain's youngest mother to give birth to conjoined twins. Her husband, Aled, 28, is the twins' father.

Doctors warned the couple that the twins might not survive after a 12-week scan revealed the problem but they refused to consider a termination.

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