Twin cancer battlers reach their first birthday

Theo Snowling and Laken Snowling are twins from Rotorua who are fighting cancer.

Kiwi twins fighting a rare cancer will tomorrow celebrate the first birthday their parents feared they would never see.

Theo and Laken Snowling were born six weeks early last September 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 twins to have it.

Tomorrow the twins turn 1 — after a rollercoaster year of hospital stays, medical dramas and scares.

"There was a time when we were told the boys might not be around for their first birthday," mum Stephanie Archer told the Herald on Sunday. "That is why we are celebrating their big day even more."

In February, the boys' parents, Stephanie and Vaughn Snowling, were devastated to be told by specialists from Starship Children's Hospital in Auckland that none of the family — they have three other children — were suitable donors for potentially life-saving bone marrow transplants.

Tears then turned to joy when the babies' blood results improved and doctors said the leukemia could be gone within a year. It was thought the twins had a genetic disorder called Noonan's syndrome that caused the cancer.

There was further worry in June when Laken had surgery to patch up a large hole in his heart and fix two smaller holes.

Theo Snowling (left) and Laken Snowling pictured with a sibling at their first birthday party.

A month later, the boys started losing weight when they were taken off their high-calorie supplement because they didn't meet funding criteria.

"It has been a year of big highs and just as big lows," Archer said.

"The boys are true little warriors. They will have their syndrome for life and will need a lot of love and encouragement but I think they will go on to do great things and won't be defined by their condition."

Yesterday the boys had an early birthday party at home in Rotorua. It was a double celebration, as the couple's youngest daughter, Oaklee, turned 3 on Friday.

In the next month Theo will undergo similar open-heart surgery to Laken.

"It will be difficult to tell the boys apart again as they will soon have matching scars," Archer said.