In it TOGETHER

Twins Louise Darville and Clare Vincent, 61, have an even closer bond after helping each other through cancer

- EMMA ROSSITER

As Louise ties a bright pink scarf around her head, her identical twin sister Clare smiles her approval and gives her shoulder a squeeze. ‘You look just like me!’ Clare chuckles, gesturing to her own blue headscarf.

‘Clare has always had a way of making me laugh and easing my worries,’ Louise says. ‘Growing up we shared everything, including our toys, clothes, and make-up. We experienced everything together as sisters. Then, in 2014, as we both faced the biggest battle of our lives against cancer, I’d never felt more grateful to have Clare by my side.’

Louise and Clare are the youngest daughters of five siblings. ‘We were always up to mischief, particularly at school,’ Louise says. ‘Occasionally, for fun, we’d swap uniforms – I’d wear Clare’s cardigan and she’d wear my jumper, which was the only way teachers could tell us apart.’

‘You two are trouble,’ their eldest sister, Anne, would laugh, as she walked the pair of them home from school.

Louise and Clare had a happy childhood, but in 1982, when they were 22, they lost their dad Patrick to liver cancer. He was only 48 and the sisters were devastated. But cancer was a disease that seemed destined to plague their family, because 11 years later, their mum Mary died, aged 59, from pancreatic cancer.

‘After losing both of our parents, Clare and I leaned on each other for support even more,’ Louise explains.

By now, they were both married, and Louise had her daughters Becky and Debbie, then 11 and eight, and Clare and her husband John had their children Nicholas, nine, and Katie, seven.