Woman has twins moments before heart op
Updated on 17 April 2009
A mother who gave birth to twins moments before having open heart surgery has returned home from hospital.
Nina Whear, 38, was nine months pregnant when she taken ill on January 6 at her home in Lamas, near Norwich.
She was given oxygen by the ambulance technicians who initially treated her, which proved crucial to her survival.
Mrs Whear was first taken to the Norfolk and Norwich University Hospital and then to Papworth Hospital, in Cambridge.
Doctors diagnosed an aortic dissection, a condition that affects blood flow and can kill, and ordered an emergency Caesarean section.
Mrs Whear's twins Evie and Alfie were delivered a short time later, weighing 3lb 11oz and 4lb 10oz, while their mother was taken into theatre to be operated on.
A spokeswoman for the East of England Ambulance Service said: "Doctors thought her chances of survival were only 7 per cent. It was that bad that the hospital chaplain and her husband were sent in to say 'goodbye'. They didn't expect her to pull through.
"She was just surprised that she was still here - and with wonderful twins. She is so grateful to the two ambulance technicians who realised how serious a condition she was in and to everyone who treated her.
"You don't often hear of miracles these days but this is one. It's a lovely story."
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