New hope for twins battling rare cancer

The babies will be seen by a geneticist this week to try to identify the syndrome for appropriate treatment.

The parents of Kiwi twins battling a rare cancer have been given new hope for their babies' future.

The Herald on Sunday revealed in December how Theo and Laken Archer were born six weeks early with treatable heart murmurs. But within weeks, the boys faced a desperate race against time after being diagnosed with the rare Juvenile Myelomonocytic Leukemia.

The condition accounts for about 1 per cent of all childhood cancers and it is almost unheard of for both babies to have.

It was thought the twins, born in Rotorua in early September, needed bone marrow transplants to survive.

The family faced an agonising two-month wait for test results to find out if either parent or 2-year-old daughter Oaklee would prove a match.

On Friday, the boys' mother and father, Stephanie Archer and Vaughn Snowling, were devastated when told by specialists from Starship Children's Hospital in Auckland that none of the family were suitable donors.

But tears soon turned to joy when informed the babies' blood results had been improving - and the leukemia could be gone before their first birthday.

"We were given heartbreaking then hopeful news in the space of a few minutes," Archer said.

"It is now thought likely the babies have an as-yet unidentified syndrome.

"It means, all going well, the cancer could go away. The boys' enlarged livers and spleens will revert back to normal and their marrow should eventually start functioning normally."

The babies will be seen by a geneticist this week to try to identify the syndrome for appropriate treatment.

However, both boys still face challenges.

Laken needs open heart surgery and Theo has two faults that are being monitored; they are still very small for their age and are struggling to put on weight.

"They are not out of the woods yet but there is now no rush for a bone marrow transplant," Archer said. "We have new hope and the future is looking much brighter.

"We will always help our little battlers with whatever life throws at them and the help and support we have had from friends, family, medical staff and wellwishers is unbelievable."