Real Life

Aussie parents’ heartbreak: Our twins’ rare cancer battle

**By Jackie Brygel

Mum and Dad’s pain as Connor and Jared become only the second set of twins in the world to fight rare cancer…**

With their huge blue eyes and angelic faces, identical twins Connor and Jared McCartin are undeniably gorgeous. They light up a room as they play, and never stray far from each other’s sides.

But the 19-month-olds are also united by an unbelievably sad bond. They are believed to be only the second set of identical twins in the world to be diagnosed with an extremely rare form of cancer — juvenile myelomonocytic leukaemia.

Textbook babies

The toddlers now face the fight of their lives, with specialists at The Royal Children’s Hospital in Melbourne preparing to give them stem-cell transplants. For their parents, Christine and Scott, it will be an agonising wait.

“These boys have brought so much to our life,” says Christine, her eyes moistening. “They’ve been wonderful little boys and you feel so helpless.

“You look at their innocence and think, ‘Why do they have to go through this?’ And we can’t explain it to them.”

For the full story, see this week’s Woman’s Day (on sale July 14).

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