I am back…On Sunday 22 April, I will be running my fourth (and quite possibly last) London Marathon.  After an injury enforced layoff, I am back to have another crack.  I will of course be running for charity, but this time around I will be raising money for a different cause.

As many of you are aware, back in September, Emma and I suffered the heartbreaking loss of our twin boys, Mylo and Stanley, who sadly passed away at 31 weeks, as a result of Twin-to-TwinTransfusion Syndrome (TTTS). 

When we found out Emma was pregnant, we were over the moon. We soon found out that not only were we expecting twins but that they were identical twins sharing the same placenta.  Monochorionic twins are very rare (fewer than 0.3% of all pregnancies) so we had appointments every two weeks  with the absolutely wonderful team at the Fetal Medical Unit at University College London Hospital who specialise in multiple pregnancy.  We were monitored very closely and everything seemed to be progressing well until one day we found out we had lost our smallest twin Stanley.  Sadly due to sharing a placenta this led to the loss soon after of our second twin Mylo. 

We were (and still are) devastated that our boys were taken away from us so tragically. Although we received the most incredible care through the team at UCLH there are still so many unknowns regarding TTTS. So, on 22 April I will be raising money for The Twin And Multiple Birth Association 's (TAMBA) Big Research Project (Phase 3), which was set up to fund much needed research to help prevent TTTS and prematurity and to save precious lives.

Twin-to-twin transfusion syndrome (TTTS)occurs in about 10-15% of identical twins who share a placenta (monochorionic twins).  TTTS arises because there are blood vessels within and on the surface of the shared placenta connecting both twins. Usually, these vessels allow blood to flow evenly between the babies, but in TTTS the blood flow is unbalanced, resulting in a ‘donor’ twin donating blood through the placenta to a ‘recipient’ twin.

The Big Research Appeal is raising money for the largest research programme of its kind in the world.  It’s designed to prevent TTTS and prematurity and to ultimately save tiny lives.  The appeal has so far funded five pieces of crucial research and has led to a twenty-fold increase in the number of fetal medicine centres publishing research papers on the complexities of treating multiple pregnancies.  

Phase 3 sees the investment in research continue and TAMBA needs to raise the next £20,000 to commission the final two pieces of research. The British Maternal & Fetal Medicine Society (BMFMS) will once again match this funding, meaning that DOCTORS will continue to DOUBLE your DONATION at no extra cost to you!  

There is more about TAMBA and their research appeal at https://www.tamba.org.uk/big-research-appeal/about-phase3 .

Thanks for digging deep to help raise money for such an important and life changing appeal. 

Paulie