Doctors Said Conjoined Twins Wouldn’t Survive But They Just Graduated From Kindergarten.
There are times in life when having faith is mandatory.
A Jacksonville, Florida, couple were advised to terminate their pregnancy in 2014 after doctors found that their twin boys were conjoined at the sternum. But the couple defied doctors’ warnings and chose life for their sons.
Michelle Brantley and Bryan Mirabal were told that their boys would not make it to 32 weeks and had a mere 25 percent chance of survival. Her pregnancy continued without any major issues, and soon Carter and Conner Mirabal were born on Dec. 12, 2014.
They were omphalopagus twins, joined from the sternum to the lower abdomen and sharing a small intestine. Each baby had his own liver and bile duct, but they were fused together. This is the most common type of conjoined twins, so doctors were convinced that they could eventually separate the boys
Doctors say the twins each have a separate liver, but the organs are fused together. Surgeons discovered during Friday’s operation that the twins also share a bile duct.
After months in the NICU having minor surgical procedures to prepare for the big event, the twins’ had their separation surgery on May 7th, 2015 at Wolfson Children’s Hospital. The surgery was a complete success!
On Friday, May 6, 2016, one day short of the anniversary of their separation surgery, Carter went home in good condition and joined his twin brother Conner and the rest of his family.
The boys have overcome many other obstacles like intensive therapies and more surgeries since then. The family never gave up on these two and now they are celebrating the twins’ recent graduation from preschool. “I mean, come on these two have accomplished and been through SO much in their short lives,” a family member wrote on Facebook on May 29.
Carter and Conner are a living testimony that life is worth fighting for.
“Their lives were not promised or guaranteed, but we had faith and they had strength!” a family member wrote on Facebook in 2017. “They beat all the odds! Seriously, how can you say there is not a God!?”
Source:inspiremore.com, faithpot.com,
