Russian quintuplets visit JR team that saved their lives
20/01/2015
This article is more than nine years old.
Staff at the John Radcliffe Hospital were delighted to welcome back some very special visitors on 15 January 2015; Russian couple Dimitri and Varvara Artamkin and their five daughters - quintuplets born in the Women's Centre seven years ago. The family saved up for a trip to the UK, so that the girls could meet the people without whom they would not have survived.
When the couple found out they were expecting five babies, doctors in Russia advised selective termination, but instead the couple decided to proceed with the pregnancy, and seek help from specialists at the John Radcliffe Hospital.
With the generous financial support of a group of Russian philanthropists, they were able to travel to the JR, where a team at the Oxford Fetal Medicine Unit led by Dr Lawrence Impey, with Prof Andrew Wilkinson, Dr Eleri Adams and 18 other medical professionals, safely delivered all five little girls.
Alexandra, Tatiana, Varvara, Elizaveta and Nadezhda were born by Caesarean section on 10 November 2007, 14 weeks early - it was the first time for a decade that quins had been born in the UK. The largest of the babies weighed only 2lbs 2oz.
The safe delivery of quins is a rare and difficult process, requiring a very high level of professional expertise; other hospitals in England were on standby in case their help was needed.
The babies all needed intensive care for three months after the birth, until they were well enough to leave hospital and return to Moscow with their parents in March 2008.
The babies thrived, and the family has stayed in touch with the staff at the John Radcliffe Hospital ever since. They were delighted to be reunited with Dr Impey and his team on Thursday 15 January, when Dimitri and Varvara visited the Women's Centre with their daughters.
"It’s fantastic to be here with the girls seeing everyone again," said Dimitri.
"We are so thankful to the doctors and nurses who took care of Varvara and the girls - they did the most amazing job. We've come here to show our gratitude to them. We've shown the girls so many pictures of the team as they've grown up, so they were very excited to meet them in person and see the place where they were born. It's very special to us all.
"It was very important to us for them to know the people who did so much for them. We cannot thank them enough. I hope the girls will remember this visit for the rest of their lives, and always feel grateful for the care they received."
Photo: Ian Mcilgorm