Inseparable twins who spent lives battling cystic fibrosis die at 23 - just three days apart

**Tragic Deaths: Twins John and Marie Wright were said to have been 'inseparable'**

A twin brother and sister who spent their lives battling cystic fibrosis have died at the age of 23 - just three days apart.

The parents of John Wright said he gave up wanting to live after being heartbroken by the death of his beloved sister Marie.

The twins who, described as 'inseparable', were babies when they were diagnosed with the incurable genetic condition which mainly affects the lungs.

Marie had a complication associated with a portacath - a medical instrument under her skin - and was admitted to Ipswich Hospital on Monday last week.

But she then suffered an aneurysm and was transferred the next day to Papworth Hospital, Cambridge.

Her condition worsened and she died on Wednesday last week with her mother Margaret, 55, at her side in Papworth Hospital, Cambridge.

Mrs Wright then had to break the news of Marie's death to John who had been a patient at Papworth Hospital since Easter Sunday.

John rapidly deteriorated and died at the hospital last Saturday after telling his mother that he could not face going on.

He had expected to die before his sister as she had received a lung transplant last July and he had complications which meant he was not suitable for a transplant.

Mrs Wright of Ipswich, Suffolk, said: "He went downhill very quickly. He said to me that he just couldn't do it any more.

"In his last few hours, he was saying, 'How much longer?' and I knew he wanted to be with his sister.

He was completely heartbroken when Marie went. "John was not well - but it was the last straw for him when his sister went. He said it was not meant to be because he was meant to go before her."

She added: "I knew that when Marie passed away that John wouldn't be far away. "He always wanted his sister to have a transplant - he wasn't worried about himself.

"They were so close, they did everything together. Because of the condition they knew what the other one was going through."

The death of the twins is a second tragedy to hit Mrs Wright and her husband Tony, 54, as their other daughter Sabrina died ten-years-ago of leukaemia aged 20.

The couple paid tribute to John and Marie saying that they were both caring individuals who always tried to help others.

The twins went to college after school, but were unable to work due to their condition.

Marie campaigned for a change in the law so that people automatically became potential donors on their deaths unless they 'opted out'.

Mr Wright who gave up work as a roofing contractor to become a full time carer for his twins, said: "I have now lost two daughters and a son.

"I will never experience the tears of joy of seeing my daughters get married. I only have my tears over their loss.

"Marie and John were inseparable. She was always the driving force and was great in every way while John was more placid as a child.

"He would be lying in bed gravely ill several times in his life and we didn't think he would pull though, but Marie would say he was going to be fine. She would pull him around."

Mr Wright said he had spent the last 23 years looking after his twins, giving them physiotherapy every day and helping to monitor and operate their intravenous drips.

John and Marie will have a joint funeral at St Mary's RC Church in Woodbridge, Ipswich, at 1pm on April 28.

Mrs Wright said her son's coffin would be decorated with an image of a Jaguar car with John in the driving seat beside the family's ten-year-old King Charles spaniel Marcus.

Marie's coffin will be decorated with a nativity scene featuring stars as rosary beads.