WE defy anyone to read the feature published on page three of The Northern Echo today and not be moved.

It tells of an extraordinary love story which ended in great sadness yet went on to produce an inspirational legacy.

It would appear far-fetched were it the subject of a Hollywood script.

For Nicola and John Mansfield, of Darlington, it was a case of love at first sight but, within a fortnight of their honeymoon, John became ill. It turned out to be cancer and the couple were told the disease would kill him within a year.

John’s greatest dream was to be a father and, thanks to fertility treatment ahead of his chemotherapy, that wish came true, although he didn’t live to see his beautiful twins Ella and Archie.

As if Nicola had not had enough to cope with, she too was then diagnosed with life-threatening brain tumours.

Mercifully she survived her own fight for life and, now, more than a year after her babies were born, she has told her extraordinary story for the first time.

She has done so because she has found the strength to become a fund-raiser for Macmillan Cancer Care, a magnificent organisation which provided precious support during John’s illness.

It is a story which we are delighted to publish.

We hope it will make others appreciate how lucky they are and put relatively minor problems into perspective. We hope it helps to promote the invaluable work of those who work for Macmillan. And we hope our readers respond with the generosity for which they are well known.

Little Ella and Archie Mansfield, of Darlington, have a mum to be proud of.

And they had a dad who would have been incredibly proud of them all.