FOR MY BOYS

Chris Bradley, 40, from Gloucester, embarked on a gruelling charity challenge to raise awareness his twin sons' condition.

- KEZIA REYNOLDS

Watching my twin boys attempting to totter around the living room together, I couldn’t help but laugh.

But then as they tumbled over, I frowned.

Something’s not quite right, I thought.

At two, Ruben and Finn should have been walking and even running.

Except they weren’t. ‘Look,’ I said to their mum, Ceris.

They were stumbling around and falling to the ground after a couple of steps.

Their development seemed so much slower than their big brother, Max, who was two years older.

They didn’t seem to be hitting their milestones.

We consistently went to the doctors and pushed for answers, until eventually we were referred to a paediatrician in 2016, who sent the boys for blood tests.

‘It’s just a precaution,’ they told us.

The tests looked at their chromosomes, and the boys were diagnosed with Williams Syndrome – it was a rare condition that occurred randomly, and was not genetic.

It affected development such as learning, and as the boys grew older, they developed distinctive facial features such as wide-spaced eyes and a more pronounced lower lip.

I was in shock, and I worried about their future.

When we got back from the hospital, I scooped the boys up into my arms and hugged them as tight as I could.