Mum defies million-to-one odds to give birth to black and white boys

by PAUL SIMS

Last updated at 23:36pm on 24th October 2006

For every mother with twins the art of telling them apart is a task that can take a lifetime to master. But when Kerry Richardson's sons were born she had no trouble telling them apart instantly.

Layton, who weighed 6lb 4oz, was growing blonde hair and was fair skinned. His brother, Kaydon, who arrived 20 minutes later weighing 6lb 9oz, was black.

See video footage of the twins here

"When they were first born, no one really noticed anything unusual as they were both practically the same colour," said 27 year old Miss Richardson.

"But over the last few months Layton has got lighter and blonder, like his dad, and Kaydon has gone darker like me."

The one in a million conception happened after two eggs were fertilised at the same time in the womb. While Miss Richardson is of English-Nigerian heritage the twins' father is white.

According to the Multiple Births Foundation, baby Kaydon must have inherited the black genes from his mother, whilst Layton inherited the white ones from his father.

"Everywhere we go you can see people looking and you can tell they are dying to comment," said Kerry, an administrator. "I have to explain they really are twins and do have the same parents.

"Sometimes I think that it is going to be really weird for them growing up. But I just look at them as being even more special."

The brothers were born at the James Cook University Hospital on July 23, four weeks prematurely.

"I went into hospital at 8.30 am on July 22 and Kaydon and Layton were born the next morning," said Miss Richardson. "Layton was born at 1.40 am and Kaydon was born twenty minutes later at 2am on July 23.

"Everyone who sees the them can't believe that they are twins. I have had people say to me 'don't they look alike, they are just like twins' and I have to tell them that they are twins.

"Even then some people take some persuading that I am serious. It was just gradual that we started noticing the difference in their skin colour. But to me it doesn't matter what they look like. They are my little angels and I would love them whatever colour skin they had." Skin colour of a baby is believed to be determined by up to seven different genes working together. If a woman is of mixed race, her eggs will usually contain a mixture of genes coding for both black and white skin. Similarly, a man of mixed race will have a variety of different genes in his sperm. When these eggs and sperm come together, they create a baby of mixed race.

But, very occasionally, the egg or sperm might contain genes coding for one skin colour. If both the egg and sperm contain all white genes, the baby will be white. And if both contain just the versions necessary for black skin, the baby will be black.

International clinical geneticist Dr Stephen Withers said the likelihood of a mixed race woman having eggs that were predominantly for one skin colour was rare enough, let alone releasing two of them simultaneously and producing twins.

"It’s probably a million to one chance," he said.

Richard Fisher, locum consultant in clinical genetics at James Cook University Hospital in Middlesbrough, added: “Non-identical twins are better described as brothers who happened to have been conceived at the same time.

"They were formed from two separate eggs and therefore just share 50 per cent of their genes. It is therefore not unusual for there to be a difference in appearance.

"However it is unusual for there to be a significant difference in skin colour and I have never come across a case like this myself."

It comes just days after another mother spoke of her one in a million birth. Twin sisters Alicia and Jasmin Singerl, who were conceived naturally, were born in May and live with their parents in Burpengary, north of Brisbane.

Their mother, Natasha Knight, 35, is of mixed-race Jamaican-English heritage, while their father Michael Singerl, 34, is a white German. But, like Kaydon and Layton, one of the five-month old girls is is black while the other is white.

Miss Knight said they had speculated during her pregnancy about what would happen if each twin entirely took after one parent.

"It's just amazing, they are so different," she said. "When they were born you could see there was a colour difference straight away. We couldn't believe it.

"Alicia's eyes were brown and her hair was dark. Jasmin's eyes were blue and her hair was white – you could hardly see her hair or her eyebrows."

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Perfectly lovely in every way!

- Katie, Michigan, USA

Gorgeous babies but unfortunately people will comment. I have one girl, the eldest, with brown eyes and brown straight hair, one girl with blue eyes and blond curly hair so they look very different. The mother of one of my eldests friends was offensive enough to suggest I had been playing away from home. The eldest looks very much like her father but the youngest ironically gets her colouring from her paternal grandfather. Some people can be very ignorant.

- Karen Winter, Ilkeston

I remember reading a case like this a few years ago in Britain.

- Carolyn, Isle of Man

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Mother amazed at her black and white twins

Bounty, UK - 23 Oct 2006Australian mum Natasha Knight, 35, was given the shock of her life when she gave birth to her twin daughters and was amazed to see that one was black and the ...

Mum defies million-to-one odds to give birth to black and white ...

Daily Mail, UK - 24 Oct 2006by PAUL SIMS Last updated at 23:36pm on 24th October 2006. For every mother with twins the art of telling them apart is a task that ...