When Sweet Valley High actress Brittany struggled to fall pregnant, her twin sister donated her eggs.

Identical twins Cynthia and Brittany Daniel have always been by each other's side. 

From their teenage rise to fame as the Sweet Valley High twins to health journeys throughout their adult life, the pair have counted on each other countless times.

"We’ve always been so intertwined. Everything that’s mine is hers, and everything that’s hers is mine," Brittany told People this week.

So, it came as no surprise when Brittany struggled with her own fertility following a year of chemotherapy, that Cynthia stepped up by donating her eggs for her sister to have her own child.

"I saw it as such a simple gift I could give to her," says Cynthia. "I know Brittany would do it in a split second for me. And we've always shared everything, so why not this?"

Image: Sweet Valley High. 

Ten years ago, Brittany Daniel was diagnosed with stage IV non-Hodgkin's lymphoma. 

It took six months of chemotherapy for the actress to make a recovery, and in doing so Daniel had found a 'new lease on life'.

"I remember thinking, 'I have a new lease on life,'" she said. 

"I was ready to find a partner and have a child... I always thought I'd be the first [of my sister and I] to get married and start a family. But I was serious about my career, and I was having a good time."

At 35, she felt prepared to get start a family on her own.

So, Brittany visited her fertility doctor to arrange a plan. Instead, she was told she was in pre-menopause just moments before walking into her sister Cynthia's third delivery.

"I went to see my OB because I was not having my menstrual cycle, and he said, 'I'm pretty certain you're in pre-menopause.' That's it," Brittany said on the People Every Day podcast.

"While I was going through chemo, I was like, 'Okay, I'm certain now that I want to have a family and I want to get married and have a baby.' And then to get that news... literally minutes before I walked into my sister's delivery... was pretty devastating."

Knocked back, but not yet discouraged, Brittany tried to start her own IVF journey, although the chemotherapy had damaged her ovaries and egg reserve, and things were looking bleak.

That's when she mentioned her identical twin to the doctor.

"He's like, 'What are we doing here? You can't get any closer. You guys have the exact same DNA. Why don't we ask your sister to see if she'd be open to sharing her eggs with you?'," she says. 

"I reached out to Cynthia. She knew about the process I was going through and trying to retrieve eggs, and I brought it up to her and asked her if she would be open to sharing her eggs with me."

"I was on board right away," Cynthia said. "I saw it as such a blessing to be able to help."

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A post shared by Brittany Daniel (@iambdaniel)

Just six months later, Brittany met real estate broker Adam Touni, and they wed in 2017.

"The day we met, the idea of family came up, and I said, 'Just so you know, my sister gave me her eggs, so that’s how we’d need to do it,'" she laughed. "I told him right away!"

The pair got started on their IVF journey using Cynthia's eggs right away, but after three miscarriages, Brittany "started to feel like [she] might not be a mum in this lifetime."

"I fought so hard, and I was so scared it wouldn’t happen."

The pair decided to try using a surrogate, and it proved successful. On October 24, the family welcomed their daughter Hope.

"We were all in the delivery room together and got to witness this powerhouse of a woman," Brittany says of her surrogate. 

"We were in total awe of her."

Brittany was overcome with emotion: "I just started scream-crying in the delivery room," she said. 

"Everybody started crying: all the nurses, the doctors, because they knew what I had been through and just the pure joy that she was in our arms."

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A post shared by Brittany Daniel (@iambdaniel)

As for Hope's relationship with her aunt, Father, Touni said: "When I saw Cynthia hold Hope in the presence of Brittany for the first time, I was comforted by the fact that my daughter has two incredible, loving mothers. It feels like one extended modern family."

The family are thrilled to have welcomed their daughter, as Brittany explained: "Becoming a mum is better than I ever thought it would be.

"My sister made my dreams come true."

Feature Image: Instagram / @iambdaniel.

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