Imagine the joy a parent would feel watching their children graduate from pre-school.
Especially, when they didn’t even know if they’d survive just a few years prior.
That’s what Michelle Brantley of Jacksonville, Florida and her husband Bryan Mirabal experienced recently when their previously conjoined twins graduated in tiny caps and gowns… pure joy.
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Especially when many told the family that they shouldn’t have gone through with the pregnancy at all.
Michelle was pretty surprised when she learned that she was going to be pregnant with twins even though she was on birth control. Happy but very surprised.
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She and her husband already had a child and planned on waiting five or six years after their child was born less than a year prior.
She was even more shocked when she returned to the doctors and found out her twins were conjoined.
According to 12 News Now, they are Jacksonville’s first and only set of conjoined twins.
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In addition, it is believed that conjoined twins only occur once out of every 189,00 births.
Doctors told the family that there would be only a 25 percent chance that their twins, Carter and Conner, would survive a separation surgery.
They also had the chance of facing complications throughout their life.
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“The judgement we’re getting is something else. There’s people telling us we should have terminated the pregnancy. There’s people telling us we shouldn’t carry this out,” Bryan said when giving an interview before the twins were born.
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The family decided to put the matter in God’s hands and boy are they glad they did because the twins are thriving.
The boys were born in December 2014 facing each other and shared a liver and intestinal tract.
They survived the 15-hour separation surgery and spent their first year of life recovering at Wolfson Children’s Hospital.
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And now they have graduated Pre-K.
“I mean, come on these two have accomplished and been through SO much in their short lives. Between being born conjoined, having a 15 hour separation surgery. Poked, prodded, no peace, living in the hospital til they were over a year old,” the family wrote on their Facebook page.
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“Therapies, doctors, more surgeries. G-tubes, feeds, learning to eat and walk and talk, and now here they are!! Graduating pre-k, something doctors didn’t know if they were gonna be able to do! Conner and Carter we couldn’t be more proud!”
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Michelle was a little apprehensive when her babies left for their first day of school.
She asked her family and friends to send prayers over that first day.
But those fears were unwarranted and the boys are doing great.
“Congratulations!! It’s wonderful to see that the boys not only survived, but have truly thrived! Thank you for sharing them with those of us that don’t know you personally. I believe that God has heard and answered many prayers for your precious boys. May He continue to bless them always!” wrote one of the family’s Facebook fans.
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Family, friends, and fans all look forward to watching Carter and Conner grow up and continue reaching milestones.
Their family is also reaching new milestones.
Carter and Conner’s parents are expecting a new child which will soon make the twins big brothers! Learn more about their incredible story in the video below.
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