THEIR mum calls them her "tiny warriors" - and premature twins Emelia and Elliot have certainly put up a brave fight.

Now 16 months old, the duo fought respiratory issues, anaemia, sepsis, a congenital heart defect and sight-threatening condition retinopathy of prematurity (ROP).

Emelia and Elliot are now thriving but the outcome for Victoria Goodall's two little ones could have been so different.

She said: “Our beautiful twins, Emelia and Elliot, were born by emergency C-section at the Princess Royal Maternity in March last year at just 27 weeks.

"Emelia was just 2.05lbs and Elliot was 2.02lbs - that’s why we call them our tiny warriors.

"We had a lot to take in following their birth, as both babies struggled with respiratory issues, anaemia, sepsis and PDA, a congenital heart defect - so they required medical treatment and blood transfusions. "The doctors also explained that they would both undergo regular eye examinations to screen for ROP.

"After a few normal routine checks, we were told that both Emelia and Elliot had developed the condition."

Both babies had to undergo an intensive screening programme for several weeks with fortnightly checks becoming weekly checks and then every couple of days.

Victoria added: "It was utterly draining and I felt like I was living on a knife-edge, not knowing if or when things would deteriorate and clinging onto the small chance the condition would regress.

"Being told things had ‘stayed the same’ never brought a sense of relief, it simply shifted the worry a few days down the line.”

Sadly, for Elliot, Victoria and her family never received the news they continually hoped for.

After enduring a gruelling 13 weeks in the NICU, little Elliot had progressed to Stage 3 ROP with ‘pre-plus disease’, which made things more severe.

Victoria added: "We were absolutely crushed by what felt like such a cruel blow - having watched our son fight for life, we now had to face the prospect of him losing his sight. It was devastating.

"He was transferred that evening to the maternity NICU at the Royal Hospital for Children and the following morning - his due date - he had sight preserving surgery under the care of Dr Gonzalez." Thankfully, Emelia’s ROP regressed.

Victoria, from Bishopbriggs, said: "Along the way we heard many well-meaning platitudes and words of comfort, but it is impossible to understand the full impact ROP can have on premature babies and their families unless you have experienced it.

"Extreme prematurity can bring so many sad and devastating consequences and we know only too well how lucky we have been with our tiny warriors."

Earlier this month the Evening Times told of the launch of Glasgow Children’s Hospital Charity’s latest appeal, which aims to save the sight of the country’s most vulnerable babies.

And Victoria and her husband Ben are doing all they can to raise awareness of ROP.

State-of-the-art imaging equipment bought with money raised by the campaign will enable teams across the three hospitals to screen for and detect retinopathy of prematurity (ROP) - abnormal blood vessel growth in the retina - in babies.

The equipment costs around £70,000 per unit, and Glasgow Children’s Hospital Charity hopes to raise £150,000 for two units by October.

Victoria said: “We’ll be doing our bit to raise funds for Love at First Sight at the Glasgow Children’s Hospital Charity Sponsored Walk this September.

"These pieces of equipment can potentially save the sight of vulnerable babies across Scotland, and can hopefully prevent the heartache families go through whilst waiting to hear whether this condition has taken hold of their child.

"We hope plenty of other families will join us.”

Donors can sign up for the charity’s Sponsored Walk on Saturday, September 1 at www.glasgowchildrenshospitalcharity.org - all funds raised will go to the Love at First Sight appeal.

People can also donate by texting CARE to 70660 to give £5, visit the website or call 0141 212 8750.