A Mother's Love: Pamela's Story
Dedicated Mum Pamela is taking on the Women’s 10k in Glasgow on June 16th in aid of Glasgow Children’s Hospital Charity.
Pamela is running for her twin daughters, Olivia - who sadly passed away when she was four days old – and Sophia, who is alive today thanks to the incredible care she received at Glasgow Children’s Hospital.
‘When I was 24 weeks pregnant with my identical twin daughters, Olivia and Sophia, I was diagnosed with Twin-to-Twin Syndrome (TTTS) by Dr Janice Gibson (Fetal Medicine Unit at Glasgow children’s hospital).’
In TTTS, part of the blood flow is diverted from one ‘donor’ twin to the ‘recipient’ twin. A lack of blood supply can affect the donor twin’s growth, so they are smaller than average with the larger ‘recipient’ twin suffering heart strain as it works harder to cope with the extra blood supply.
The recipient twin then develops excess fluid to compensate for the excess blood. Laser Surgery can help, sealing off blood vessels and then draining excess fluid.
‘Our twins had a 10% chance of survival unless they had this emergency laser surgery.’
Pamela McFarlane
Before the new Glasgow Children’s Hospital was built in 2014, any patient in Scotland who required laser treatment would have to travel to a hospital in London or Birmingham to receive treatment.
‘I was one of the first people to undergo the laser surgery in Scotland. Thankfully, it was successful.’
‘At 26 weeks my waters started to leak, and we were told that we really needed to keep the girls inside me until 28 weeks so that they would have a better chance of survival. My waters went fully at 28 weeks.’
‘Olivia and Sophia were born at 28 weeks old weighing 2lbs each. They were born by emergency section and were whisked away to NICU before I could see them.’
‘Whilst Sophia really struggled and needed lots of support; Olivia was strong, off ventilator and oxygen and was tolerating feeds well.’
‘Our other daughter, Lucy, who was two at the time came to visit the twins. It was so special to have all our daughters together.’
‘Later that night, we got a call from their consultant who said Olivia was unwell and that we needed to come in to discuss next care steps. This came as a shock as Olivia had been the stronger of the two.’
‘It was horrendous to see Olivia so unwell.’
pAMELA MCFARLANE
‘She had an infection, Necrotising enterocolitis (NEC) and sepsis.’
‘The treatment wasn't working, and we were asked if we agreed to withdrawing medical intervention, as there was nothing else that could be done to save her.’
‘It was a heartbreaking situation that no parent ever wants to be in.’
‘At 4 days old, Olivia passed away cuddled in my arms while her twin sister, Sophia, was next door fighting for her life in the incubator.’
Pamela McFarlane
‘It was terrible to lose Olivia, but thankfully Sophia made a full recovery and came home 10 weeks later.'
'She is now thriving and looking forward to celebrating her tenth birthday in July.’
‘We have no doubt that if Laser Surgery had not been available in Glasgow, both of our girls would have died.’
‘Without Dr Janice Gibson and her team, we would not have had those 4 wonderful days with Olivia and a happy, thriving 9-year-old Sophia.’
Fundraising
‘On June 16th, I am taking on the Women’s 10k in Glasgow to raise funds for Glasgow Children’s Hospital Charity.’
‘I’ve started the training and I'm feeling excited. I've never run this course before, but I have no doubt I'll smash it. My emotions will definitely be high on the day.’
Since 2015, Pamela has raised over £6.8k for Glasgow Children’s Hospital Charity in loving memory of Olivia, and in honour of the life-saving care Sophia has received.
'It's so important to me to keep Olivia’s spirit alive and to talk about how amazing she was.’
Pamela McFarlane
'Without the support of the hospital staff and the charity, Sophia would not be here today, and we wouldn't have had those four precious days with Olivia.'