A mother is celebrating a significant milestone as her twin daughters, who were given only a 10% chance of survival, are set to start school. Hannah Brameld, 44, faced a devastating diagnosis when she was 16 weeks pregnant and learned her daughters, Ruby and Scarlett, had Twin-to-Twin Transfusion Syndrome (TTTS).
TTTS is a life-threatening condition where blood flow from the placenta to the twins is uneven, causing one to receive too much and the other too little. The complication was identified during a routine scan, leaving Brameld and her husband, James, reeling from the news.
A consultant informed Brameld that without a risky surgical procedure, the survival rate for both babies was less than 10%. "I felt like the floor had disappeared beneath me," she told the Daily Mail. "These were my babies. I hadn't even met them yet, and already I was being asked to imagine losing them."
Just a week later, Brameld underwent an in-utero operation that was successful in treating the TTTS. However, the procedure caused her waters to rupture, leading to a dangerously low level of fluid around the twins. The couple was warned that Scarlett's lungs might not develop properly, and they attended King's College Hospital weekly for scans to monitor the girls.
Brameld described her efforts to protect her unborn babies, including drinking large amounts of blackcurrant squash and remaining as still as possible. Every day that passed without labor felt like a victory. Ruby and Scarlett were born on November 30, 2021, via emergency C-section. Ruby weighed 1lb 10.5oz and Scarlett weighed 2lb 3oz. Both required immediate ventilation, and Brameld was unable to hold them for ten days.
Their birth marked the beginning of a months-long ordeal. Ruby battled a suspected bowel infection and meningitis, while Scarlett suffered a collapsed lung, required treatment for a hole in her heart, and developed sepsis. "I have never felt so helpless," Brameld said, recounting the challenges of caring for one baby while the other required constant attention in separate hospital rooms.
Ruby was able to go home three months after her birth, on the twins' original due date. Brameld continued to bring her back to the hospital daily to be with her sister. Scarlett needed ongoing breathing support, including overnight ventilation and a surgically fitted feeding tube. After weeks of preparation, the twins finally returned home together, having spent a combined total of 300 days in the hospital.
Now, Ruby and Scarlett are preparing for their first day of school. Brameld describes them as "double trouble" – energetic and inseparable. The experience profoundly impacted Brameld, leading her to leave her career in the fashion industry to work for the neonatal charity Ickle Pickles, which supported her family. In her new role, she provides peer support to other parents facing similar challenges and volunteers at King's College Hospital.
Recently, Ruby and Scarlett participated in their first fundraising event, a one-mile sponsored run in Greenwich. "When I think about everything my girls have overcome — a less than 10 per cent chance of survival, a desperate operation, months apart in separate hospital rooms — and then I watch them running down the street together, laughing, holding hands on their way into school, it takes my breath away," Brameld said. "Ruby and Scarlett are living proof that even when the odds feel impossible, miracles can still happen."