They are two of the most beloved faces to come out of MasterChef Australia – but behind the smiles, Declan Cleary and Sarah Todd have lived through something no parent should ever have to face.

In a candid and emotional episode of The Australian Women’s Weekly podcast Love Stories, the couple have opened up about the traumatic birth of their twin daughters Claudia and Charlotte –

a story of terror, helplessness, and the most overwhelming relief of their lives.

The pregnancy had not been easy for Sarah, and identical twin births are high risk as it is. Sarah had battled severe morning sickness early on, and as the weeks progressed, things grew harder rather than easier.

“I just started getting quite sick and physically in pain,” she recalled to the publication. “I seemed to be unwell for a lot of the end of it. I was like, gosh, I don’t remember it being this difficult.”

Still, she had a goal fixed firmly in her mind. “I wanna make it to 36 weeks,” she said, “and whatever it took, I was gonna get to that point.”

She didn’t quite make it. At her 34-week scan, Sarah was diagnosed with preeclampsia. Her blood pressure refused to come down and her platelet levels kept dropping. Nothing the hospital tried was bringing her back from the edge – and so the decision was made to induce her.

“It was all these signs that these little girls are ready to come out into the world,” Declan said. “And by that point it was Sarah that was becoming the health problem. I was f***ing terrified.”

It took just 14 minutes. “It was the longest 14 minutes of my life,” he said.

As Sarah was placed under general anaesthetic and the surgical team moved fast, Declan found himself standing at the edge of a crowded operating room.

“Sarah goes under and they’re cutting her open and both girls come out – and the girls were still,” he recalled. “And it was like, God, I’ve got like two dead babies here and mum’s knocked unconscious. And I can’t say anything. I can’t ask any questions because there’s 18 people there. They’re going crazy – chucking plastic bags on the girls and shaking the s**t out of them.”

The medical team were doing everything right, but from where Declan stood, he could see only stillness.

Faced with the unimaginable, he made a quiet and instinctive decision. “I’m just there, just looking at mum,” he said. “She’s my number one priority now. They have to make sure mum’s okay.”

He couldn’t reach his daughters, but he could keep watch over Sarah. So that’s what he did.

Then the surgeon stepped away, crossed the room, and wrapped his arms around Declan and told him all three of them were going to be alright.

“It was just the most liberating feeling in the world,” Declan said.

But the ordeal was far from over. As Claudia and Charlotte finally took their first breaths, Sarah was still under anaesthetic – and still in danger.

She went into seizures, Declan gripping her hand as the terror continued. “I can handle pain,” Sarah said, “but you know, this? I couldn’t handle this. There was nothing I could do to stop it.”