A mum has spoken of her horror after being diagnosed with advanced cancer just three weeks after giving birth to twins.
Laura Howard and husband Stephen were celebrating the birth of daughters Florence and Meadow in July when Laura noticed a lump on her side.
She initially thought it was a muscle tear, but an MRI scan revealed it to be a tumour in her liver, the Liverpool Echo reports.
The couple have been together for 14 years after Laura, who is originally from Brighton, travelled up to Liverpool for a night out and met Steve.
They fell in love and she moved to Knotty Ash in 2009 to be with Steve, who is a self-employed gardener.
When they started their family, they were overjoyed at their double bundle of joy and were looking forward to their new adventure as parents.
But just two days after the birth at Liverpool Womens' Hospital, Laura noticed a lump on her side which was initially suspected to be a muscular tear. An MRI scan then revealed it to be a tumour in her liver.
Later, when the twins were only three weeks old, Laura was diagnosed with advanced metastatic bowel cancer, which had spread to her liver.
She now faces the gruelling prospect of many months of chemotherapy and surgery. But it also means her husband has had to take on the lion's share of parental duties, as Laura is not well enough to carry them out herself.
Laura, who is 33 and shares exactly the same birthday as her husband, said: "I literally had no idea until I noticed the lump on my side, which the MRI scan confirmed was a tumour on my liver which had spread from the bowel.
"It should have been the best time of my life having just given birth to the twins. Instead I was just panicking and worried.
"It did feel unreal. It felt like I was in a bit of a dream world."
Laura said her husband had had to take over many of the roles she would have performed had she been able.
She said: "It's been a real strain on him as well. They're being bottle fed and I struggle to even hold the twins for any period of time."
The couple have found it difficult as Laura's family live over 200 miles away, but they said Stephen's family had provided "amazing" support during this difficult period.
Stephen himself has had to stop working to be a full-time carer for his wife and to look after the twins.
Laura said: "I'm still staying positive, while everyone else is quite emotional. At first it was thought I had liver cancer, so the doctors were quite relieved it was bowel cancer that had spread to my liver as there are more effective treatments for that."
A fundraiser has been set up to help the couple while Laura undergoes treatment. It can be found here.
