'No looking back since' - Laois twins born 26 weeks premature thriving on family farm
Laois mother Nicole Lawlor from Timahoe has raised money for The Coombe Hospital in Dublin where staff helped to save the lives of her baby girls
A Laois mother has raised a huge amount of money for The Coombe hospital in Dublin recently after crediting staff with saving her twin daughters’ lives.
Nicole Lawlor from Timahoe delivered a cheque for €16,551 to the hospital on Thursday, June 2, 2026 with her husband Mannix and family.
Nicole gave birth to her premature twin girls at 26 weeks old at the hospital in 2024 and owes the incredible work of the staff for the babies thriving today.
Sally, the eldest twin, spent three months in the Coombe, while Beth, the smallest, spent four months there, Nicole told the Leinster Express.
Nicole said that the hospital supported her through every step of the way. They arranged somewhere for her to stay nearby in Dublin while they were caring for her babies.
“They looked after us and gave us meals every day for lunch and free parking as well when we were up there. The care that the girls received was unbelievable, that's why we owe everything to them for the girls being where they are now today.”
Both girls were put on oxygen support and they were both tube fed when they were born.
Nicole’s husband Mannix was by her side every step of the way travelling up and back to Dublin from Laois to be there for her during this time.
“They had different tests every single day, they were constantly testing on them, but the main thing was the birth weight.”
Beth was born at only 646 grams and Sally was 922 grams.
“So the main thing was to try and get their lungs strong enough to come off the oxygen and then to gain weight and to be big enough and strong enough to go on to bottles instead of being tube fed.”
Thanks to the hospital the girls recovered and were brought home to their family farm in time for Christmas in 2024.
“There's been no looking back since. They're brilliant now, they're thriving, living life on the farm”.
Nicole raised a huge amount of money to give back to the hospital with a Shave or Dye event held in Timahoe.
“We raised €8,900 on that night thanks to a local man named Ronnie Rothwell. He had a ponytail at the time and said to us if we raised €3,000 on the night he was willing to get the ponytail cut off.
“We of course didn't think we'd raise anything next or near to that, but because of him being so well known and everybody wanting his ponytail gone, we got a serious crowd on the night and we couldn't believe the money that we raised that night”.
Nicole raised the rest of the money during the VHI Women’s Mini Marathon which she took part in with her sisters, mum and auntie.
Nicole said that being able to go with the cheque and her healthy baby twins to the hospital was amazing.
“They asked for permission to bring the girls back up to the department and got to show other families that are only starting their journey because they said they couldn't believe how many kids were born at 26 weeks lately.
“So to bring the girls up to let them see, obviously, they have a long road ahead, but what they have at the end of it. It's great. So looking back, we wish we had that to look back to.”
Nicole said that she will never forget the difficult journey she went through with her baby twins.
“Shout out to Ronnie because only for him we wouldn't have raised that money that night at the shave or dye. He cried when it was cut!”
Nicole has also given credit to all of the local businesses that donated vouchers and hampers for the raffle on the shave or dye fundraising night.
She has thanked everyone who was involved as well including her husband Mannix Lawlor, Cathal Moran, James Delaney, Eoin Langton, Eoin Peters, John Dwyer, her mother in law Mary Lawlor and John Langton. These people all helped to sell raffle tickets and were involved in the shave or dye event.