5-Year-Old Boy Visits Twin Brother’s

A Rare Condition with Heartbreaking Consequences

Brooke and Michael Myrick were devastated when doctors diagnosed their unborn identical twins with

Twin-to-Twin Transfusion Syndrome (TTTS) — a rare condition where twins share one placenta and blood vessels, causing an imbalance in nutrients and oxygen. One twin often becomes severely deprived.

“It’s not genetic or caused by anything you did,” Brooke was told. Sadly, the condition took the life of one of their babies, Willis, before birth.

“I was 24 weeks when we found out, but they said it had been at least a week, so we really don’t know when Willis passed away,” Brooke recalled. “I was still feeling movement, so I didn’t know I had lost a baby.”

The couple had already prepared for two babies — “cribs, clothes, toys… You’re expecting to bring two babies home,” she said tearfully.

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A Photo That Touched the World

Years later, a powerful photo of their surviving son, Walker, now five, went viral. It showed him kneeling at his twin brother’s grave, sharing news about his first day of kindergarten in Greenhill, Alabama.

“As we were passing the cemetery he said, ‘I want to see Willis,’” Brooke shared. “I wasn’t anticipating taking a photograph. But when I walked up and saw him like that, it was just one of those moments where you think: ‘This is really special.’”

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A Bond Beyond Words

Walker sat quietly by the grave for just a few minutes. “He just wanted to sit there and, I think, feel that connection,” Brooke said. “He told us that he just wanted to tell his brother about school.”

“Even as an infant I would always talk to him about Willis and he would smile,” Brooke added.