Mother of twin girls given less than 10% chance of survival after TTTS at 16 weeks; after surgery, premature birth and 300 days in hospital, twins now prepare for first day of school

Twin sisters Ruby and Scarlett are now preparing for their first day of school. (Photo: Hanna Brameld)

A mother whose twin daughters were given less than a 10 per cent chance of survival after a devastating pregnancy complication is celebrating a milestone she once feared she would never witness: Ruby and Scarlett are starting school.Hanna Brameld, 44, from Beckenham, was just 16 weeks pregnant when doctors discovered that her unborn daughters had Twin-to-Twin Transfusion Syndrome (TTTS), a potentially life-threatening complication that can occur in twin pregnancies sharing a placenta.The condition was detected during a routine scan after a sonographer noticed that blood was not being distributed evenly between the babies. In TTTS, abnormal blood-vessel connections in the shared placenta can cause one twin to receive too much blood while the other receives too little, putting both babies at serious risk.

‘I felt like the floor had disappeared beneath me’

Brameld said she was left “frozen” when doctors explained the severity of the condition. A consultant told her and her husband, James, that without a risky operation, the chances of both babies surviving were less than 10 per cent.“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 a complex procedure in which a specialist surgeon operated inside her womb to treat the condition.Thankfully, the operation was successful. But the family was soon confronted with another frightening complication: the procedure ruptured Brameld’s waters, causing the protective fluid surrounding the twins to fall to dangerously low levels.Doctors warned that Scarlett’s lungs might not develop properly.“I was terrified,” Brameld recalled.

Pregnancy became a day-by-day battle

Ruby and Scarlett overcame a life-threatening TTTS diagnosis before birth. (Photo: Hanna Brameld)

The couple began attending King’s College Hospital every week for scans to monitor the twins.Determined to give her daughters every possible chance, Brameld said she did everything she could to prolong the pregnancy.“I drank glass after glass of blackcurrant squash, convinced it might somehow help,” she said. “I stayed as still as possible, willing my body to hold on just a little longer.”For the mother, every additional day without labour represented hope.“Every single day that passed without going into labour felt like a small victory,” she said.Eventually, Ruby and Scarlett were delivered by emergency Caesarean section in 2021.Ruby weighed just 1lb 10.5oz, while Scarlett weighed 2lb 3oz. Both babies were immediately placed on ventilators, and their mother had to wait 10 agonising days before she could hold them.

The twins spent 300 days in hospital

Their premature birth marked the beginning of another difficult chapter for the Brameld family, with both babies facing serious medical complications during their prolonged stays in neonatal care.Ruby battled a suspected severe bowel infection and meningitis.Scarlett suffered a collapsed lung, required treatment to close a hole in her heart and developed sepsis caused by the bacteria Serratia marcescens.“I have never felt so helpless,” Brameld said, describing the emotional strain of caring for two critically ill newborns.“I was desperate to be beside Scarlett every second, but Ruby needed me too – feeding every three hours, needing to be changed, needing her mum.”She also had to express breast milk, eat, sleep and cope emotionally while moving between hospital rooms.

Ruby went home, but Scarlett needed prolonged care

The sisters are now described by their mother as energetic and inseparable. (Photo: Hanna Brameld)

Ruby was finally discharged three months after her birth, coinciding with the twins’ original due date.But Scarlett remained in hospital and continued to require significant medical support. She needed long-term respiratory assistance, including a ventilator overnight, as well as a surgically fitted feeding tube.Ruby’s mother continued taking her back to hospital every day so she could remain close to her sister.The family spent weeks learning how to manage Scarlett’s complex care before she was eventually discharged.Between them, Ruby and Scarlett spent a total of 300 days in hospital.“I will never forget carrying Scarlett through our front door and watching her and Ruby together as a family, at last,” Brameld said.

From neonatal intensive care to the school gates

Now, years after their parents were warned that they might not survive the pregnancy, Ruby and Scarlett are preparing to start school.Their mother describes them today as “double trouble” – energetic, inseparable and full of life.The twins have also taken on a fundraising challenge of their own, completing their first sponsored run: a one-mile event in Greenwich in support of neonatal charity Ickle Pickles, which supported the family during their time in neonatal intensive care.The experience had such a profound impact on Brameld that she left her career in the fashion industry to work for the charity. She now provides peer-to-peer support to parents facing situations similar to the one her family experienced and returns to King’s College Hospital every fortnight.Ickle Pickles supports families of premature and sick newborns and helps hospitals obtain vital neonatal equipment.

‘It takes my breath away’

Looking back at everything her daughters have endured, Brameld said seeing them run together is almost impossible to comprehend.“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,” she said.“Ruby and Scarlett are living proof that even when the odds feel impossible, miracles can still happen.”