A Margate mum-of-five is appealing for help as one of her premature twins fights for his life in hospital.

Carla Wilson, 29, gave birth to Rudie-Liam and Maneece-Rose at 31 weeks.

For the first five weeks of their lives they were cared for in the Special Care Baby Unit at Margate’s QEQM Hospital.

They arrived home about a week ago but Carla had to take Rudie to her GP three days in a row because he was unwell.

On the third day, Rudie was taken to a London hospital. He remains there on a life support machine.

Carla’s mum, Lisa Russell, said: “He went all floppy. My daughter had to bring him round because he had stopped breathing and he was taken straight to hospital.

“A specialist team then took him to St Thomas’ Hospital and it is a really worrying time for all of us at the moment.”

Rudie has been on life support in St Thomas’ Hospital since he arrived. He has recently been put under sedation to try to stabilise his condition.

Carla and her partner, Marlon Minter, are staying in a hotel near the hospital, which they are paying for themselves.

Lisa said: “They have to pay for everything and take taxis to and from the hotel every day because Maneece-Rose is with them and everything is expensive in London.

“Everybody has been donating bits and the response from family and friends has been overwhelming, and it has helped a great deal.

"But we don’t know how long they are going to be up there for and they need all the help they can get at the moment.”

In addition, Carla has to travel back and forth to Margate to care for her other three children.

Her friend, Ruth Tollington, set up a GoFundMe page to help.

She said: “I set the page up with our friend Chloe and we did it to help a friend out because we know she is really struggling.”