WHEN Irvine couple Denise Taylor and Andy Chalmers found out they were expecting twins they couldn’t have been happier.

The delighted pair put their wedding plans on hold and begun preparing for the arrival of their two beautiful baby boys.

But their joy was short lived when, at their 20 week scan doctors told them they should seriously consider aborting one of their twin boys because he wouldn’t survive the pregnancy - and there was a 25 per cent chance the healthier boy would die too.

Medics discovered the babies - who the couple had already named Fraser and Finlay - were suffering from Twin to Twin Transfusion Syndrome (TTTS) - where the placenta is share unequally between identical twins meaning one does not grow and develop at the same rate as the other.

Irvine Times:

As a result of the disease, Fraser was not getting the nutrients he needed to develop properly and doctors advised that they abort him to ensure Finlay’s survival.

Devastated at the prospect of losing one or both of their boys, the couple went home to Old Caley Road to make the impossible decision.

Denise, 41, said: “It’s just not a decision you can make. How do you decide to let one of your babies live or die over the other one.”

Andy, 34, added: “In the end we just couldn’t do it. We just thought who are we to decide that this wee baby isn’t going to make it? We had already named them and because of the size difference we could feel Denise’s bump and knew who was laying where, so we were really attached to them.

“We went back to the doctor and told her we would not be terminating Fraser and we would take our chances. We would do what we could for them and it was up to the boys to fight.”

Eight weeks later, Denise was at Glasgow Southern General for a blood transfusion when doctors told her the babies were struggling in the womb and she would need to undergo an emergency C-section at 30 weeks.

Two weeks later, on January 29, 2013, they arrived - after being delivered by the same doctor who had advised the couple to have a termination - with Finlay weighing just 3lbs 12oz and Fraser, a tiny 2lbs 9oz.

Denise and Andy faced a further blow when they were told Fraser had fluid on his heart, stomach and back of his neck and so many holes in his tiny heart that doctors compared it to a “block of Swiss cheese”.

Finlay was released home after six weeks but Fraser was kept in and underwent the first of three heart operations at just three-months-old followed by a hernia operation at four-months-old.

Irvine Times:

Fraser was then finally allowed home where he slept next to his twin brother for the first time since they were in the womb.

Andy said: “They had never been together so it was quite emotional and scary to get him home.”

Since then Fraser has been diagnosed with chronic lung disease and chronic liver disease. He permanently wears two hearing aids and has most recently undergone tests for cerebral palsy.

But despite all of this, the plucky three-year-old has joined his brother at nursery and 18-months-ago became a big brother to the couple’s third child Jaxon.

Andy said: “To think what he has been through it’s just incredible that he still smiles. He’s very active and his speech and everything is coming along great. We couldn’t be more proud of him.

“I know the doctors were only doing their job, but to think they advised us to abort him because he wouldn’t survive, just shows he has totally defied all the odds.

“He really is a miracle.”