Access Interviews
Who is saying What, Why, When and Where

Headline:

My babies are named Faith and Hope: Exclusive interview with British teenager set to be world's youngest mother of Siamese twins

Synopsis:

A teenager is set to make medical history this week by becoming the world's youngest mother of Siamese twins.

Laura Williams, 18, from Shrewsbury, Shropshire, defied medical advice to abort the girls early in her pregnancy, and will now give birth to Faith and Hope by caesarean section this week.

Only about five per cent of conjoined twins survive the first 24 hours, but because they are joined at the front, doctors say the chances are good in this case.

Speaking exclusively to The Mail on Sunday, Laura said: 'It's scary every day and it's been the hardest decision of our lives, but 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.

'We called them Hope and Faith because I'm always hoping everything's going to be all right and Mum says she's got faith in it being all right.'

Laura and her 28-year-old husband Aled, from Anglesey in Wales, discovered they were expecting conjoined twins at their 12-week scan. Laura is now 35 weeks pregnant and resting at a hospital in Birmingham but will be transferred by ambulance to a leading London hospital.

Conjoined twins occur in about one in every 400,000 live births. Over the past 500 years, just over 600 surviving sets of conjoined twins have been recorded.

A spokeswoman for the hospital said: 'All the staff at the hospital will be praying for them and we're hoping for a successful outcome.'

Publish date:

23 November 2008

Author:

Elizabeth Sanderson

Source:

Mail on Sunday

Media:

Access Interview