Mum finds partner dead on sofa just days before their twins’ first birthday

Tragedy struck just days before their twins’ first birthday when devoted dad Alex Green, 30, was found dead on the sofa by partner Chloe Powles, who now faces the heartbreak of raising their severely ill daughters

A devoted father of baby twins was discovered dead on the sofa by his heartbroken partner.

Chloe Powles, 34, was just days away from marking the first birthday of the couple’s twins when she found Alex Green’s lifeless body in the lounge of their Pencoed home.

The 30-year-old, who was also father to 12-year-old Gracie, had been sleeping on the settee so as not to disturb babies Livie and Georgina, who both suffer from rare health conditions requiring round-the-clock care and were resting in the couple’s bedroom.

Recounting the events of August 20 this year, Chloe said that at around 2am, Alex came upstairs to ask if he could join her in bed.

Not wanting to wake the girls, Chloe told him to return downstairs. Several hours later, Chloe came downstairs to discover Alex’s motionless body on the sofa.

She said: “At 8.04am I rang the ambulance because when I came down in the morning he was sitting up on the sofa, blue and stiff.”

“It ruined me – I can’t even put it into words.” A post-mortem examination has yet to take place, and Chloe has been told it could take months or even years to find out the cause of death, reports Wales Online.

Not wanting to remain in the same house where she discovered her partner’s body, Chloe is hoping to relocate in the near future. Two days after the tragedy, Livie and Georgina celebrated their first birthday, but as Alex’s family sang Happy Birthday to the twins, Chloe had to leave the room.

She said: “I couldn’t do it. I’m not really coping but I have to be okay for the girls.

“It’s just hard – I’d love to just not be okay but I have the girls to think about.” The couple had been together for two years, rekindling an old flame that sparked when they met through Alex’s sister, who happens to be Chloe’s best mate.

With Alex being a father to an older daughter and Chloe a mum to her eight-year-old daughter Charlie, the news of their expanding family came as a surprise. The revelation that they were expecting twins was even more astonishing, given that twins aren’t common in either side of their families.

During Chloe’s pregnancy, tests revealed that one of the twins wasn’t growing at the same rate as the other, but doctors couldn’t pinpoint the reason. At 33 weeks pregnant, Chloe welcomed her daughters, Livie and Georgina, into the world on August 22, 2024. Livie was half the size of her twin sister.

The newborns were immediately taken to intensive care where they remained for months after birth. Chloe shared: “I had them and they were in intensive care and the special care baby unit in Cardiff for two months until we could come home. Livie was still tiny, Georgina was still double the size of her, but they just thought it was just twins and she’d catch up.”

A month after returning home, with Livie still significantly smaller than her age should suggest, the consultant expressed concern that Chloe might not be feeding her as much as Georgina. When this didn’t prove to be the case after another two months, Livie was taken into hospital where medics fitted a feeding tube.

Despite giving her the same quantity of milk as her twin sister, doctors grew worried when she couldn’t keep the food down. At approximately seven months old, fluids were administered through Livie’s veins in an attempt to help her develop and obtain the nutrients she required.

Blood tests were subsequently conducted on the tiny infant and revealed she had Russell-Silver Syndrome (RSS) – a rare form of dwarfism. Livie now has permanent tubing in her nose for feeding because she doesn’t consume enough food.

She has been referred for a peg in the stomach to feed her as she frequently removes the tube from her nose. After reducing the quantity of milk she would require, Chloe said Livie is “thriving” at 8lb 1oz at nearly 15 months old.

On her first birthday this year, Livie was the smallest one-year-old in the UK.

Chloe said: “Alex wanted to do the Guinness World Record but we just never go around to it because he passed away.” During the first few months after the twins were born, Georgina appeared “fine” until Alex spotted something in her eyes.

Chloe said: “She was a happy baby and slept through the night. She was amazing – never without a smile on her face.

“And then this one night Alex said to me: ‘There’s something wrong with her eyes.'” Alex had spotted purple discolouration in Georgina’s eyes, but Chloe initially dismissed it as nothing concerning.

After observing that six-month-old Georgina had ceased tracking her with her gaze and lost her ability to focus, Chloe consulted with doctors who acknowledged they needed to examine her. Given that the hospital’s eye specialist typically didn’t treat children as young as Georgina, the twins’ consultant advocated for an urgent appointment.

Suspecting potential vision problems, Chloe had come to terms with the possibility that her daughter might have visual impairment.

When doctors examined her eyes, they discovered four tumours in both eyes. The following day, returning to Cardiff, Georgina had a central line inserted and commenced chemotherapy treatment that would continue for the subsequent six months.

Due to her tender age, she could only endure six rounds of the intensive chemotherapy, as her tiny body wouldn’t withstand any additional treatment. Each month, Georgina would undergo chemotherapy treatment at a Cardiff hospital before travelling to see a specialist eye consultant in Birmingham, where lasers would be directed at the tumours within her eyes.

Medical professionals subsequently told Chloe that the tumours were continuing to expand in both eyes, meaning Georgina required chemotherapy to be administered directly into her eyes every fortnight – targeting one eye per session. Her left eye has responded well to the treatment, with expectations that just one additional session will be needed as the tumour has shrunk.

However, Georgina has already lost her central vision in her right eye, with the tumours persisting in their growth. Chloe explained: “Every two weeks I go to Birmingham – the tumour has doubled every time.

“The chemo is not working at all in her right eye. If she didn’t have cancer in her left eye the right would have been removed but doctors are working hard to save the eye.

“Chemo is now being injected into her groin through an artery and pumped through the veins of the eye.” Should this latest treatment approach fail to shrink the tumour in Georgina’s eye, medical professionals are contemplating radiotherapy.

This would mean the 15-month-old would endure the treatment in isolation for approximately seven weeks due to her becoming radioactive. Witnessing her daughter endure such intensive treatment at such a tender age has been “torture” for Chloe.

She revealed: “She doesn’t stop smiling – she has no idea what’s going on. Then she gets wiped out and then comes back to herself.

“It’s torture watching her get wiped away, then back to her happy self, then she gets wiped away again when she’s going through the treatment. It is torture to watch her go through everything. Everything is my decision now without Alex – what if I make the wrong decision?”

Chloe has been forced to step away from her role as a stadium steward because she’s caring for her daughters and making constant trips to various hospitals, including one in Birmingham. Being unable to earn has left Chloe battling to cover the costs of travelling to and from hospital with her daughters.

Friends have launched a JustGiving page to provide Chloe with financial support during this difficult time. Chloe expressed that she was “so thankful and grateful” for those who have already contributed to help her and her family.

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