'I'm here and I'm alive. I have two gorgeous girls because somebody gave blood'

Identical Cork twins and their parents will feature on RTÉ show - Hospital Live - this week

Úna and Eva Brice, and their mother Pamela owe their lives to the power of blood donations.

Úna and Eva were born at 33 weeks on World Blood Donor Day in 2004.

Identical twins share a placenta in the womb, which provides blood to each foetus.

One baby becomes the donor and the other becomes the recipient.

During the pregnancy, Úna didn’t receive blood while Eva received too much for her body to handle. Úna and her mother Pamela required blood transfusions to stay alive.

After their births, Úna weighed 2 pounds 3 ounces and was extremely white. Both children were named on the night of their births.

“A nurse said to me, ‘you would feel really bad if you didn’t name your daughters and they died'.

“Naming them was the last thing on our minds because we didn’t know if my husband had to organise three funerals or a christening,” Pamela said.

Thankfully Úna, Eva and Pamela are healthy. Una is the national junior pole vault champion and will head to America in September and Eva hopes to become a nurse once they finish the Leaving Cert.

“We're so grateful. I'm here and I'm alive. I have two gorgeous girls because somebody on some cold and wet night went to a donation centre and gave a pint of blood that saved my life and my babies lives back in 2004,” Pamela said.

Hospital Live will broadcast on RTÉ One at 7pm on May 16-18 - tonight, tomorrow night and on Thursday night.

To find out how to donate blood, visit https://giveblood.ie/