Chloe Powles was days away from celebrating the first birthday of her twin babies when she discovered Alex Green’s body in the living room of their home
A heartbroken mum found her partner dead on the sofa just days before their twins’ first birthday. Chloe Powles, 34, was preparing to celebrate the milestone with Alex Green and their baby girls when she discovered his lifeless body in their Pencoed home.
Alex, a devoted dad to the twins and 12 year old Gracie, had been sleeping on the sofa to avoid disturbing Livie and Georgina. The twins both suffer from rare health conditions requiring constant care and were sleeping in the couple’s bedroom.
Recounting the tragic events of August 20 this year, Chloe revealed that around 2am, Alex had asked if he could join her in bed. Not wanting to wake the girls, she told him to return downstairs.
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Just a few hours later, Chloe found Alex’s lifeless body on the sofa. She said: “At 8.04am I rang the ambulance because when I came down in the morning he was sitting up on the sofa, blue and stiff. It ruined me – I can’t even put it into words”, reports WalesOnline.
The cause of Alex’s death remains unknown, with a post-mortem examination yet to be conducted. Chloe has been warned it could take months or even years to determine what happened.
The couple, who had been together for two years after reigniting their romance from years ago, met through Alex’s sister, who is also Chloe’s best mate.
With Alex already a father to an older daughter and Chloe being mum to her eight year old daughter Charlie, they were taken aback when they discovered their family was set to expand. The news that they were expecting twins came as an even bigger surprise, as twins don’t run in either side of their families.
During Chloe’s pregnancy, tests revealed that one of the babies wasn’t growing as much as the other twin, but medics couldn’t pinpoint the reason. At 33 weeks pregnant, Chloe gave birth to her daughters Livie and Georgina on 22 August 2024, with Livie being half the size of her twin sister.
The newborns were transferred to intensive care where they remained for months following their birth. A month after returning home, as Livie was still very small for her age, the consultant expressed concern that Chloe wasn’t feeding her as much as Georgina.
Despite not showing any improvement after two more months, little Livie was admitted to hospital where a feeding tube was installed. Despite being given the same amount of milk as her twin sister, doctors grew concerned when she couldn’t keep the food down.
When she was around seven months old, fluids were pumped through Livie’s veins in an attempt to help her grow and get the nutrients she needed. Blood tests were then carried out on the tiny tot and it was discovered she had Russell-Silver Syndrome (RSS) – a rare form of dwarfism.
Livie now has permanent tubing in her nose for feeding because she doesn’t eat enough. She has been referred for a peg in the stomach to feed her as she often pulls out the tube from her nose.
After reducing the amount of milk she would need, Chloe said Livie is “thriving” at 8lb 1oz at nearly 15 months old. But that is half the size she is expected to be with her syndrome so she is visiting doctors to start growth hormones.
On her first birthday this year, Livie was the smallest one year old in the UK. Chloe said: “Alex wanted to do the Guinness World Record but we just never go around to it because he passed away.”
In the first few months after the twins were born, Georgina seemed “fine” until Alex noticed something in her eyes. Chloe said: “She was a happy baby and slept through the night.
“She was amazing – never without a smile on her face. And then this one night Alex said to me: ‘There’s something wrong with her eyes.'”.
Alex had spotted purple colouring in Georgina’s eyes, but Chloe initially dismissed it as nothing serious. However, when six-month-old Georgina stopped following her mother with her eyes and lost focus, Chloe raised concerns with doctors who agreed to examine her.
Despite the eye specialist rarely treating children as young as Georgina, the twins’ consultant insisted on securing an appointment. Prepared for the possibility that her daughter might be visually impaired, Chloe had come to terms with the potential diagnosis.
She said: “The thought of Georgina not being able to see was fine – I could deal with that. I went to the appointment with the eye doctor.
“He put drops in her eyes and then he put his big glasses on and looked into her eyes. He then took his glasses off, pushed his chair back, and said: ‘You need to go back to the ward, I need to get hold of specialists in Birmingham. I can see tumours in her eyes.'”.
Within a day, they were rushed to Birmingham where Georgina was placed under anaesthetic whilst specialists examined her eyes, discovering four tumours in each eye. The following day, back in Cardiff, a central line was fitted and Georgina started chemotherapy that would continue for six months.
Due to her age, she could only withstand six sessions of the intensive treatment as her tiny body couldn’t endure any more. Every month Georgina underwent chemotherapy at a Cardiff hospital before travelling to Birmingham to see a specialist eye doctor who used lasers to target the tumours in her eyes.
Medics then told Chloe the tumours were continuing to expand in both eyes, meaning Georgina required chemotherapy injected directly into her eyes every fortnight – alternating between each eye.
Her left eye has responded well to the treatment and she is now expected to need just one more session as the tumour has shrunk. However, Georgina has already lost her central vision in her right eye and the tumours continue to multiply.
Chloe said: “Every two weeks I go to Birmingham – the tumour has doubled every time. The chemo is not working at all in her right eye. If she didn’t have cancer in her left eye the right would have been removed but doctors are working hard to save the eye. Chemo is now being injected into her groin through an artery and pumped through the veins of the eye.”
If this latest course of treatment fails to reduce the tumour in Georgina’s eye, then doctors are considering radiotherapy. This would mean the 15-month-old facing the treatment alone for approximately seven weeks as she will be radioactive.
Watching her daughter endure such intensive treatment at such a young age has been “torture” for Chloe. She said: “She doesn’t stop smiling – she has no idea what’s going on.
“Then she gets wiped out and then comes back to herself. It’s torture watching her get wiped away, then back to her happy self, then she gets wiped away again when she’s going through the treatment.
“It is torture to watch her go through everything. Everything is my decision now without Alex – what if I make the wrong decision?”
Chloe, who used to work as a stadium steward, has been unable to continue her job due to the constant care she provides for her daughters and the frequent hospital visits, including one in Birmingham.
The inability to work has left Chloe struggling to afford travel to and from hospital with her daughters. To help support her financially, Chloe’s friends set up a JustGiving page.
