A set of twins who lost their mother to a rare genetic cancer may have inherited the faulty gene and doctors are currently working against time to find possible cures.

Jennie Chinembiri and James Williamson are undergoing treatment after doctors discovered that they could be carriers of the faulty gene which claimed the life of their mother, who died of phaeochromocytoma in 2003.The twins seem to have the SDHB gene, which can cause pheochromocytoma tumors, the Mirror reported.

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Pheochromocytoma is a rare catecholamine-secreting tumor that can trigger life-threatening hypertension.

The rare cancer, according to iTech Post, has been claiming the lives of Scottish people over the last few years. Jennie, a mother of two kids named Anastwa and Krupa aged three and two with her husband Ainslie, had earlier undergone radiotherapy for the inoperable tumor that became large in her neck

The tumor, which almost stopped her from breathing, ceased growing after the radiotherapy. After Krupa was born, Jennie had the treatment for about five months. Since the tumors was close to her jugular vein, doctors were unable to remove it. Jennie is at risk of developing more tumors across her body. Perhaps this is due to the genetic error which was inherited from her mother.

Doctors have advised Jennie's family to wait for the children to get older to test for any possibility that they might be the carrier of the rare genetic error.

Meanwhile, James also has tumors near the carotid artery, another dangerous location to operate upon. The twins, 36, are desperate to find a cure for the cancer that has devastated their family and they wait to see if the next generation will be affected.