TWINS Samantha and Stephanie Wilson are thriving after undergoing a life-saving operation while they were still in their mother's womb.

Sleeping peacefully, side by side, it is hard to imagine that the tiny bundles of joy were given just a 20 per cent chance of survival before they were even born.

But, thanks to pioneering surgery carried out at a London clinic, the girls have come into the world fighting fit.

Cuddling the daughters they never dared think they would have, thrilled parents Fiona Thomas, 26, and George Wilson, 24, from Walker, Newcastle, thanked doctors for saving their "little miracles".

The couple, who have been together for seven years, were delighted when Ms Thomas, who has two sons Robert, six, and Bryan, four, found out she was expecting twins last December.

But their joy turned to heartache when a scan at 17 weeks revealed the babies had a rare condition called, Twin to Twin Transfusion Syndrome, which meant they could die in the womb at any moment.

The identical babies were joined together at the stomach via the placenta.

TTFS is a disease which affects the flow of blood through shared vessels,

In their case, Samantha was getting too much blood, putting her at risk from heart failure, and her little sister was getting too little, putting her at risk from severe anaemia.

The only way to save the babies was to cut the connecting blood vessels while they were still in the womb.

To undergo the risky procedure, Ms Thomas had to travel to the Harris Birthright Centre at Kings Hospital, London -- the only place in the country where it is carried out,

The laser technique was pioneered by Cypriot-born Professor Kyprianos Nicholaides and has only been performed 500 times in the world.

The babies were given between a 20 and 50 per cent chance of survival.

Mr Wilson, a trainee chef, stayed at home with the boys while Ms Thomas travelled to London with her consultant, Dr Stephen Sturgis.

Mr Wilson said: "It was an agonising wait. I sat by the phone and waited for a call, hoping and praying everything would be all right."

Dr Sturgis carried out the one-and-a-half hour operation under the supervision of Professor Nicholaid-es. The youngsters were born naturally 18 weeks later at Newcastle's Royal Victoria Infirmary, on August 22.

Their proud mother said: "When I held them in my arms for the first time and saw how perfect they were, the agony just disappeared."

And their father said: "I'm the luckiest man in the world. When I saw them it was the happiest moment of my life.