PARENTS of twin girls who suffered from a potentially fatal disorder before they were even born say they want to raise awareness of the condition after celebrating their daughters' christening.

Elissa and Sienna Walsh were born on February 16 this year.

But Bolton parents Daniel and Danielle say there were times they thought neither of their daughters would make it after being diagnosed with twin to twin transfusion syndrome, a serious disorder that occurs in identical twins that can cause blood to be transfused disproportionately from one twin to the other.

The condition can leave one of the twins with decreased blood volume, causing them to develop more slowly, while the other twin can become overloaded with blood, putting a serious strain on the heart.

Daniel, a 26-year-old parts company owner, said the uncertainty left both parents fearing the worst and had been harder because the pair had been through a completely healthy pregnancy when they had their son Blake, now five.

He said: "We were very lucky because it could have been a whole different situation. There were times we just thought it wasn't going to happen, the way the situation was we thought it wasn't going to turn out well and we weren't going to have either of them.

"We went through ups and downs all the way through. Making regular visits to Birmingham to see specialists at the women's hospital, we saw the UK specialist there. We were told at one point we were going to have to have surgery and then at the last minute they decided against it. Then it went better and then it went worse. It was all very up and down and then it ended in Manchester with an emergency c-section."

And despite the emotional ups and downs of the pregnancy Daniel said the pair hadn't told many of their closest family what they were going through, with most of them finding out at the christening via a video the pair made of their experience.

The video left their family so stunned that the twins' six godparents have all agreed to complete their own fundraising events in the future.

Daniel added: "A couple of members of our immediate family knew what was going on, but most of our closer family we didn't tell them or involve them, we kind of went into a shell and kept it between us so when we showed them the video at the christening to tell them they were all shocked.

"I wasn't surprised by their reaction because I know our family and I was expecting that reaction. I knew it would upset them, but in a happy way, because they could see it had worked out fine. One of the godparents was holding one of them while they watched the video and they were blown away when it all came out because they were standing there holding a perfectly healthy baby.

"We really want to say thanks for everything they are doing. It's not just the support from them for us but also raising awareness of TTTS. Whenever we tell anybody now nobody has a clue what it is. Twin pregnancies are becoming more common than they used to be and with these pregnancies there is always a chance and with identical twins there's an even bigger chance."

One of the godparents James Tobin, Daniel's cousin, started the fundraising by arranging a 15,000ft skydive, raising more than £1,000.