Today the story of the incredible bond that exists between twins, even in the womb.
Nine-year-old Walker Myrick has an incredibly close bond with his twin brother — even though he’s never met him. His identical sibling, Willis, died in their mother’s womb from a rare condition called twin-to-twin transfusion syndrome, a disease that affects identical twins who share a placenta. But that hasn’t prevented the two boys from creating a “beyond the grave” connection.
Walker often asks to visit his brother’s burial site so he can talk to him. In fact, when Walker was only five, he asked his mom, Brooke Myrick, if he could visit his brother so he could tell him about his first day of kindergarten.
Now, at 9 years old, Walker still frequently asks to visit his brother, making sure they go every holiday and some additional days on top of that. Brooke says, “Identical twins are known to carry a very strong connection and I believe it’s still there with my boys. Walker has a drive to make sure Willis is never forgotten.”
She’s also working to raise awareness of TTTS, which she hadn’t heard of before Willis’ death. She says, “We were not screened for it, nor did our doctor refer us to a specialist or even know that my boys were identical and sharing a placenta. We fight for awareness because of the lack of knowledge that our doctor possessed about this disease.”
For the past several years the Walker family hosts a walk to raise money for the TTTS Foundation on Walker’s birthday.