‘I WAS one of those girls everybody thought would come home pregnant at 15 and go on to have five or six kids. I grew up around children and always wanted them, but it just hasn’t happened,” says Michaela Frame.

“I was over the moon when I found out I was pregnant with twins. It was a big surprise, but a nice surprise – my ex-partner and I had been trying for children for about five years and they were conceived after one cycle of IVF.

“At the dating and sexing scan, I was told Isobella’s heartbeat had stopped but, because they were identical twins and shared a sac, I still had to carry both of them.

“I had injections to stop me going into labour and tried to fight it, so I managed to keep them in until 26 weeks when they just came.”

Welling up at the memories, Michaela, who lives with her partner, Matty Wheeler, in Darlington, said: “It was horrible, and although the staff at The James Cook University Hospital [in Middlesbrough] were brilliant, I didn’t get much aftercare and ended up breaking up with my partner and moving back in with my parents. It’s had a massive impact.”

Having a child means the world to Michaela and her partner of two years. The loss of her twins cast a shadow over her life and their relationship, but she believes having a baby would go some way to softening the blow.

She said: “I don’t want this to seem like a sob story but it’s part of life to have babies and with the twins not here, something is missing.

“Everyone around me has babies and we are always told ‘you’ll be next’. It’s awful for us, but also for others.

“My sister feels guilty because she was pregnant at the same time I was. We love our nephew, but we often wonder if the twins would have looked like him.”

Turning to the NHS for help, they were upset to be told they did not meet criteria set out by the local clinical commissioning group (CCG).

First, their GP said Michaela should lose weight. Returning after losing more than two stone, she was told she could not be referred until three years after having a living child and would have to wait another year after that to meet criteria stating couples have to have tried for a child together for more than two years.

“I was told you have to have not had children in the past three years and because I had the twins two and a half years ago, I didn’t qualify – because Gabriella wasn’t stillborn, she was classed as a live birth,” says Michaela.

“Some might say it’s only another year or two to wait but that’s before the lengthy process begins and it takes ages to get to the stage of actually having IVF – the longer we wait and the older we get, the less chances there are of it working.”

The couple are using crowdfunding to raise the £2,100 needed for their first cycle of IVF.

Michaela said: “We work hard, save up and have cut back on everything possible but it’s a lot of money. They say you can’t put a price on life but if I had enough money, I’d have a baby by now.”

The policy set out by Darlington CCG states that treatment will only be offered to couples where neither partner has living children from a current or previous relationship.

Martin Phillips, chief officer of the CCG, said they would be happy to investigate the concerns raised. He added: “Although Darlington CCG cannot comment on individual cases, we do recognise the difficult personal circumstances that some couples and individuals face.”

To help the couple raise funds, visit gofundme.com/agwz2k