Keri Swain takes great pride looking after her grandchildren Ollie, 13, and twins Hope and Anna, aged four
After a series of life-changing events, including a brain haemorrhage, an Oxfordshire woman has published a book to give help to other people bringing up their grandchildren.
Four years ago, trained counsellor Keri Swain, of Kingston Bagpuize, took in her then four-month-old twin granddaughters and a year ago, she started writing a letter telling them why they call her and husband Kevin mummy and daddy.
Last week, it was released as a book which Mrs Swain, 47, hopes will help grandparents who are applying for residency orders for their grandchildren.
Mr and Mrs Swain brought Hope and Anna to live with their then nine-year-old son, Oliver, because the girls' mum, Beth, who lives in Wales, was unable to look after them.
She said: "My life went from being a career girl to being a full-time stay-at-home mum. It's been a rollercoaster ride, but I've never regretted having the girls with us."
Last year, the four-year-olds started asking questions. Hope asked: "When we grew in your tummy, did we grow there together?"
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The conversation was so significant it inspired the book's title and Mrs Swain began thinking about who would tell the girls the truth when she dies.
She started writing a letter, but as she explained the family's troubles, it grew long enough to be a book. At first she wanted to keep it private, but that soon changed.
"I was giving a talk at The Grandparents' Association conference when I realised the book had a lot to offer and I had to share it," she said.
But she wanted to make sure the finished product would still be her letter to the girls and went to Authorhouse, a company which offers self-publishing.
"They haven't changed a word," she said. "I make no apologies for spelling mistakes."
In August, her reasons for writing it took on a whole new meaning. Days after submitting it to the publishers, doctors found she had suffered a double brain haemorrhage.
"It reinforced in me my book's importance and gave me even more determination to see it completed," she said.
Described as a "walking miracle", five days after a life-saving operation, she was at home designing the front cover.
"It's a heart-wrenching, tear-jerking, heart-warming story. I haven't written it to become rich, but to reach out to people and make grandparents aware."
The book, You Didn't Grow in My Tummy, You Grew in My Heart, is available from www.authorhouse.com or direct from Mrs Swain on 07706 469131. Most bookshops will stock it later this year.
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