A DEVOTED sister stepped in and became a surrogate mother after Elaine and Danny Haworth suffered the pain of losing three babies.

Caring Gwen Duckworth, 26, told the couple: "I will have your baby" after doctors warned that carrying another child would kill her elder sister.

But tragedy again threatened their happiness when 27 weeks into an otherwise perfect pregnancy, Gwen was forced to have an emergency caesarean after developing a life-threatening form of pre-eclampsia toxaemia.

Tiny Andrew weighed less than a bag of sugar and needed emergency treatment for lung disease in the neonatal intensive care unit at Queen's Park Hospital, Blackburn.

Doctors told the family the odds on their precious son pulling through were slim.

But twelve weeks on, the Haworths, of Priory Grange, Darwen, can at last see a glimmer of hope as Andrew continues to put on the pounds and grow in strength. Elaine, 30, said: "We have been through so much in the last few years and are now just looking forward to the day we can bring little Andrew home.

"Words can't express how we feel about Gwen for giving us the gift of a son. She is a special, brave sister and our best friend."

But Gwen, who works at Borden Decorative Products and has no family of her own, is modest about the part she played in making parenthood possible for Elaine and Danny.

She said: "I love my sister and would do anything for her.

"When I realised I was in a position to carry a child for her I didn't think twice.

"Anybody who is as close to theirsister as I am would have done the same thing."

The Haworths' amazing story began when Elaine discovered she had a serious heart condition after two miscarriages, including the loss in 1994 of twin girls Rebecca and Laura, 22 weeks into the pregnancy.

To add to the couple's despair, major heart surgery revealed that any further pregnancies would almost certainly kill Elaine.

"That's when Gwen stunned us by offering to have a baby for us," said Danny. "For weeks we kept everything a secret. We just didn't want to build our hopes up too much, especially because of the high risks involved and what happened to the twins."

The trio spent weeks at the IVF clinic at Leeds General Hospital undergoing counselling and genetic tests before Elaine's fertilised eggs could be implanted into Gwen.

They were delighted when the first attempt, which cost £2,500, was a success.

"Everything was going so smoothly it was a big shock when Gwen got ill and Andrew came early," Elaine said.

"The two weeks after his birth were the worst of our lives. Doctors constantly warned us we could lose him at any time.

"But we are living in hope. Last month we got to hold him for the first time and a week ago we gave him a bath.

"He was only 1Ib 8ozs at birth and is now nearly 5Ibs. Although our worries are not over we are more confident than we have ever dared to be before that he will pull through."

Anybody wishing to make donations to the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit, which is caring for Andrew, should send them to Queen's Park Hospital, Blackburn, BB2 3HH.

Copyright: Lancashire Evening Telegraph, 1997

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