I had identical twin daughters, who formed twin to twin transfusion early in my pregnancy. Around 21 weeks, Emma was found to be not growing, as her twin sister Elise was flourishing. An ultrasound showed Emma had major complications which proved to be true the day of their birth.

Born nine weeks premature, it was explained or believed that during the transfusion a blood clot had formed and lodged in Emma, stopping blood flow and causing disabilities.

Day one of life, Emma had major surgery on her bowel, she had a heart murmur and her brain seemed to have not formed correctly.

At birth, Elise was double Emma's size and was like a new born at the correct gestation of 40 weeks in terms of her abilities. Elise was home with us at three weeks of age but Emma had a lot of hurdles to overcome.

Sadly after a long battle Emma gave up and passed away at 19 months. This is where my question comes in. The moment Emma passed away, Elise woke up and although she was only 19 months old, Elise can tell you everything that occurred while her sister was here.

Elise is now 10 years old and over the course of her life we have witnessed what we believe to be the twin thing. If Elise is sent to her room or for some reason is not happy, you would swear she is telling someone to the point she will break in conversation as if she was being answered.

We moved home and Elise told us her friend was lost and couldn’t find her home. When we asked her friends name she told us her name was Emma. She sleeps with Emma’s photos inside her pillow case.

Elise attends a catholic school and after a funeral was conducted at her school about three months ago she began waking at night. She was really upset the day of the funeral so we talked about it, but she couldn’t really tell why she was upset.

Now when she wakes she can be really hard to calm down. Once she told me she didn’t want to die, and another night she told me her brother said she was going to die. I do not think this happened - I think she has thought it herself.

We have had many conversations about her sister dying and how Emma looks after her and wants her to have the best of everything and to try to be the best person she can be. She understands all of this.

I was thinking she was scared she was going to die like Emma but when we talk she doesn’t think she is going to die.  She believes Emma is looking after her, and she is healthy, but this still persists.

After talking to her school and various people in professional positions we are now thinking Emma may be with Elise in a spirit way and that Elise talks to her and sees her, and that this is scaring her.

I have noticed myself that when you tell people they tend to look at you like you are crazy. One friend told me  that if she hadn’t seen Elise talking when no-one is in her room with her, she never would have believed me.

Quite often when she wakes up she doesn’t remember it the next day even when she has been awake for up to two hours. 

Can anyone help me? My daughter is suffering and I'm sure she doesn’t know how to handle it.

If this is happening could she be blocking it out or trying to, considering no one else in the family talks about seeing Emma? Could she be scared to tell me in case I don't believe her?  If anyone has ever heard of this or has any suggestions I would be more than happy to hear from you and can be contacted on melhancock@bigpond.com

Thanks so much for taking the time to read my story.

Mel Hancock

Woongarrah, Australia