Twin babies die of same cancer in span of two years

A UK couple was devastated after losing their twin girls to cancer, Mirror reported on Thursday (July 2).

Said Mrs Clare Boitelle: "Our hearts and souls are forever broken. This has been a heart-wrenching journey with our beautiful, brave princesses, taken away from us so soon.

"Our lives won't go back to the way they were before. We have lost both our girls, it's devastating."

Identical twins Neve and Belle were born 10 weeks premature in November 2012.

Identical twins Neve and Belle Boitelle. PHOTO: LEUKAEMIA & LYMPHOMA RESEARCH/CLARE BOITELLE

The baby girls spent two months in hospital before returning home.

When they were five months old, both were diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukaemia, a cancer of the white blood cells.

Neve started chemotherapy immediately but died 15 days later.

Belle made it through the treatment, but had a relapse in October last year, and again in February this year.

Belle Boitelle. PHOTO: LEUKAEMIA & LYMPHOMA RESEARCH/CLARE BOITELLE

She died in March, aged two years and four months, in her parents' arms.

PHOTO: GOFUNDME/BRAVE BELLE'S BATTLE PAGE

During the time Belle was in hospital, Mrs Boitelle and her husband Darren took turns to stay with her while trying to keep life as normal as possible for their seven-year-old son Hiro.

The grieving parents said on fundraising platform Gofundme that they plan to raise awareness about the cancer and raise funds for charities.

Sources: Mirror, Mail Online, Gofundme, Leukaemia & Lymphoma Research