Britain’s most premature twin leaves hospital after parents advised to abort
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Jacob McMahon has left hospital 5 months after being born at only 23 weeks of pregnancy. After his twin sister died of an infection a week earlier the doctors recommended an abortion, but before the parents decided, Jacob decided for them.
Miss Fisher, 25, and father Scott McMahon, 26, from Bradford were delighted to be able to bring Jacob home at five months old.
“It feels surreal being home”, Miss Fisher said. “It is a day that was not spoken of because we thought it would never happen.”
“I went into labour at 21 weeks and six days and unfortunately Emie [Jacob’s twin sister] showed no signs of life at birth.
“... We couldn’t believe it when doctors told us we had to consider abortion.
“They told us I had an infection and that he wouldn’t survive.
“They gave us 24 hours to decide whether we wanted to take a tablet that could stop his heart.
“We did not want to do that but luckily that decision was taken away from us when I went into labour at midnight.
“I was petrified about what was going to happen. The whole pregnancy was scary and we were heartbroken after losing Emie, I thought we were going to lose Jacob.
“But I’m pleased to say we have a little miracle on our hands. He wanted to survive. It feels like we’re on a rollercoaster and I can’t get off. Sometimes I feel so sad and then other times I think how lucky we are.
“But Jacob is a twin and I don’t want to forget he is a twin. That makes him even more special."
Consultant neonatologist Dr Sam Oddie said: “We have never had a baby survive at 23 weeks before. His twin sister was born so early there was no prospect of her being able to survive and we were extremely concerned whether Jacob could survive.”
Andrea Williams commented:
“In the light of this story and others like it, it is so distressing to think that babies can be lawfully terminated up to 24 weeks into pregnancy in this country.
“Little Jacob joins a growing list of babies to survive before 24 weeks and is a compelling case for reducing the upper time limit on abortions and for giving extremely preterm babies the benefit of the doubt when deciding to provide them with intensive care or not.”
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