The British mum of the world’s first surviving female sextuplets is praying for the nine tiny babies born to a mum in Morocco.
Jan Walton, now 68, made headlines around the world in 1983 when she gave birth to six daughters, now 37, dubbed the Walton Sextuplets.
Now her thoughts are with Halima Cisse, 25, who this week became only the third person ever to give birth to a set of nonuplets.
Mrs Walton from New Brighton, Merseyside, said: “We wish them well and we are thinking of them in our prayers.”
The five girls and four boys born on Tuesday, each weighing around 2lb or under – less than a bag of sugar – are being cared for in incubators in Casablanca.
What is your view? Have your say in the comment section
Halima’s husband said the couple have been overwhelmed by the support they have received.
And Jan – who gave birth to Hannah, Luci, Ruth, Sarah, Kate and Jennifer at Liverpool Women’s Hospital – knows how crucial that support will be in the coming days.
She said: “We took it a day at a time. When I was in hospital, everyone was rooting for me and ‘Him up there’ kept his eye on us.
“All the chaplaincy team came to see us, everyone was praying for us, everyone was rooting for us.
“We were very, very fortunate to have the facilities of the Liverpool Women’s Hospital.
"The special care unit was second to none.”
She added: “The girls are 37 now and they are just fantastic.
"They are all good friends, they are all balanced and lucky and working.
"Everything has been absolutely great for us.”
Mrs Walton and her husband Graham, 70, from New Brighton, Merseyside, are now grandparents.
She said: “We are really grateful for everything that happened to us.
"We still count our blessings, we have three gorgeous granddaughters.”
Mum Halima had travelled from her home in Mali, West Africa, to the private Ain Borja clinic in Casablanca.
It is understood she was 30 weeks pregnant when she gave birth.
Her husband, Adjudant Kader Arby, who stayed in Mali with their elder daughter, said: “God gave us these children.
"He is the one to decide what will happen to them.”
In 1971, the first known set of nonuplets was born in Australia but none of the five boys and four girls survived.
In 1999, five boys and four girls were delivered in Malaysia but all died within a few hours.
In 2009, Nadya Suleman, from California, US, gave birth to the only known surviving set of octuplets.
