The 5th August 2020 was meant to be the happiest day of our lives. Our twin boys James and Ryan were finally making their way into the world.

Little did we know that events had already taken an awful turn. When trying to locate our boys heartbeats before the planned c-section they were unable to find a heartbeat for our biggest twin (James) the heartbeat for our smaller twin (Ryan) was low and the twins and Siobhan were rushed into emergency surgery at Stoke Mandeville Hospital.

Over the next 30 minutes we would learn James was sadly born sleeping and Ryan although still with us was in a very serious condition.

He was moved to the John Radcliffe in Oxford. Over the next 5 and a half days having been cooled to try and prevent brain seizures and managing multiple organ failure we finally had to make the heartbreaking decision to let him go and join his brother.

However in his usual fighting way when the machines that were keeping him alive were removed he kept breathing on his own and although nothing could be done for him he kept holding on for that bit longer. He was entering what became know as 'Ryan Time'.

We got transferred to Helen House hospice to spend what we knew were the final hours/days with Ryan. He finally left us after a further 3 and a half days, on 14th August.


Paul and Siobhan

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