A COUPLE have shared the story of their heart-rending journey to start a family.

Mark and Sam Aylin live in Westhoughton with their two children Amelia, three and a half, and six-month-old Oliver – but four years ago the happy ending seemed a long way off.

In 2014 the couple started out on in vitro fertilisation, known as IVF, after both being diagnosed with fertility problems.

It was not an easy journey. They lost Amelia’s identical twin Jessica after the sisters were born early at 26 weeks, and also went through a miscarriage on their second attempt at treatment.

While many may have quit, the couple persisted and finally welcomed their son just before Christmas.

Sam, 33, said they now wanted to share their story in order to give hope to other couples going through or considering IVF.

“Partly we want to try and highlight that it’s not a taboo subject, it shouldn’t be embarrassing,” Sam explained.

“It is a means to an end and no-one should feel embarrassed at having problems conceiving, it’s just a fact of life.

“Lots of things can happen, we lost Jessica and it was the worst thing in the world, but at the end of the day things happen for a reason and we have to keep moving forward and honouring her.

“They may not all be here, but we have three children all through IVF; it gave us our greatest gift.”

Mark, who works in the histology department of Royal Bolton Hospital, and Sam, a teacher at Bury Grammar School, started their treatment through a specialist in Leigh before transferring to Care Fertility in Manchester.

Treatment included Sam being injected everyday to twice a day to help with egg development, before they were collected and injected with Mark’s sperm.

Sam adds: “Even though its a very clinical procedure, it didn’t feel that way. The staff did everything they could to make it feel nice and comfortable.”

It resulted in three embryos, two of which they had frozen and another of which was transferred back to Sam, which developed into the twins.

During her pregnancy she was regularly monitored at the Royal Bolton Hospital until at 20 weeks doctors discovered a problem.

The babies were suffering from twin-to-twin transfusion syndrome (TTTS) — where there is an unequal flow of blood between the twins — and on January 28 Sam was forced to go into labour early.

Jessica was born weighing just over one pound and Amelia weighed just over two. Heartbreakingly, despite a battle by doctors Jessica passed away before Sam and Mark could hold her for the first time.

Her sister fought on and at 14 weeks was discharged from hospital, and spent four more months on oxygen until she was strong enough to fend without it.

It was 18 months before they decided to try again with another of the embryos, which resulted in another successful pregnancy but unfortunately Sam suffered a miscarriage.

The couple felt they couldn’t abandon the last embryo and returned in March 2015.

This time Sam describes a ‘perfectly normal’ pregnancy which ended with her welcoming son Oliver.

“It was a tough experience but worth it,” Sam said.

“We were supported all of the way and there were times when it can be awful but there is an end goal.

“Mark would feel awful injecting me and seeing me flinch everyday but we were both in it together.

“We were fortunate to get three frozen embryos and I never imagined we would have three children when it started. Everyone has their bits that don’t go right or they find hard but you have to keep going. If I had to do it all over again I would do every single bit in a heartbeat.”

A new CARE clinic has opened at the Crompton Health Centre on Crompton Way so local patients can have consultations and their treatment monitoring in Bolton.

Helen Mitchinson, Specialist Fertility Nurse at CARE Bolton, added: “We were absolutely delighted to help Sam and Mark through their IVF treatment. They have overcome some difficult times but happily they now have Amelia and Oliver.

“All of us at CARE in Bolton and Manchester would like to send our love and best wishes to the family for the future.”