Coach Craig Peters is doing a world record attempt, 24 hours non stop Burpees!! Read his story below on why his doing this and why the charity means so much to his family…..
Without the expertise of the staff at St George’s Hospital our twin boys would not be here today. In February 2014, at week 20 of my wife’s pregnancy with our identical twin boys, we were diagnosed with twin to twin transfusion syndrome (TTTS), something which occurs in 10% of multiple pregnancies.
TTTS affects only identical or monozygotic twins who develop from the splitting of a single egg during the first 14 days after fertilisation, and who also share a placenta – monochorionic twins.
The placenta has a web of blood vessels connecting the twins with the mother and which usually allows an even flow of blood and nutrients to each of the embryos.
However, in a TTTS pregnancy, the flow of blood in these vessels is out of balance and, as a result, one twin gets too much blood, which can put a strain on the heart and lead to heart failure, and the other too little, affecting its growth and survival.
As a result, we had to undergo emergency laser surgery – if we did nothing there was a 90% chance we would lose our boys. This techniquewas developed by foetal specialists at St George’s and involves using a laser to burn and close some of the blood vessels in the placenta. With that said, even by going through the laser treatment there was still a one-in-three chance that both twins would survive, a one-in-three chance that only one would make it, and a one-in-three chance we could lose both. It was like the toss of a coin and scariest moment of our lives.
Whilst our boys are happy, bouncy 8-year olds now, we appreciate that we are one of the lucky ones and there are more and more people out there experiencing the roller-coaster ride of TTTS, sometimes with very tragic consequences. We’ve done this challenge before and we raised enough money for the hospital to purchase the EXACT same piece of equipment that was used to treat my wife. I was given the wonderful opportunity to visit the surgeons along with this piece equipment which is now being treated on other couples to help save lives. That remains one of my most memorable accomplishments.
Please dig deep. We appreciate we are one of the lucky families but there are others out there who haven’t been as fortunate as us. Let’s help the hospital in order to help those families. Thank you for your support