In December 2002, three sisters were born, whose birth can be called a real miracle. The bodies of two girls are tightly fused with each other, and their sister was born separately – this can only happen in one of 200 thousand cases. And he fell on the triplets Macy, Mackenzie and Madeline.ny
Each of them weighed just over 900 grams at birth.
The sisters were immediately abandoned by their parents. The couple had drug problems, and they certainly would not have been able to care for unusual girls. Fortunately for the little ones, the Harrison family took care of them. Simple farmers from the US state of Iowa have already raised three sons, but dreamed of daughters. They were not even scared away by the difficulties that are inevitable in the state of health of the triplets.
“We had no idea what to expect. They just needed someone to love them. We picked up Madeline when she was four days old, and Maisie and Mackenzie were four weeks old,” says Darla Garrison.
9 months after birth, on September 10, 2003, Macy and Mackenzie underwent separation surgery. Doctors called her a success, but both girls lost one leg and were subsequently forced to use prostheses.
Two years later, Darla and her husband Jeff officially adopted the triplets. Now they are 14 years old – and they live a normal life, like thousands of their peers.
“The girls have succeeded thanks to the hard work and care of their families. Their achievements are impressive and inspiring,” says pediatric surgeon James Stein, who performed the operation to separate the sisters back in 2003.
“When you raise children with disabilities around people who treat them like normal children, they begin to perceive themselves as such,” adds Linda Kontis, co-founder of the foster care agency.
“This is a merit not only of Darla and Jeff, but of their entire family. That’s why they’re such amazing kids.”
“We all fell in love with them. Our boys were happy to have three sisters,” says Darla Garrison.
Of course, they are constantly asked about the secret family happiness. To this question, parents usually answer that there is no special secret, only love.
For doctors, the case of sisters Macy, Mackenzie and Madeleine remains unique even now, 14 years after their birth. The doctors who took the girls saw such triplets for the first time. Madeleine was born completely healthy, but Macy and Mackenzie were Siamese twins.
The babies grew together in the pelvic area, but this did not pose an immediate threat to their health. Parents did not hesitate to leave the girls in the hospital, fate an unusual trinity hung by a thread. Fortunately, wonderful people came to the aid of the little ones!
Jeff, 52 And 42-year-old Darla Garrison long dreamed of a daughter. Fate, however, played a trick on them: three sons grew up in the family of the spouses.
Seeing Maisie, Mackenzie and Madeleine, the husband and wife realized that they would definitely adopt the girls. Even the news that the parents of the crumbs were drug addicts did not affect the decision of the Harrison couple.
After consulting with doctors, Jeff and Darla decided that Macy and Mackenzie should be separated. The operation was performed in September 2003, when the girls were nine months old.
The multi-stage operation was extremely difficult, specialists worked on the crumbs for 24 hours in a row. Fortunately, everything ended well!
Macy and Mackenzie were left with one leg. Moreover, both sisters were now forced to live with ostomy bags. The doctors, however, were absolutely sure: without surgery, everything would have been much worse.
The parents took the girls with them to the farm where the whole family lived. Today, psychologists say: Jeff and Darla made the absolutely right decision.
The foster father and mother did not take care of them all their lives, as often happens in families where disabled people grow up, but they perceived them as normal children. As a result, the girls grew up independent, energetic and satisfied with life.
By the age of ten, it turned out: the twins, whom fate itself seemed to have tied to each other, grow up completely different in character and temperament. Maisie turned out to be a quiet home girl who preferred to stay at home and draw. Mackenzie, on the contrary, loved to walk, play in the street and run around with her brothers and friends, and the prosthesis did not interfere with her at all
The little ones have mastered all the things that parents-farmers usually load their children with. They are not inferior to boys and a healthy sister in anything, and the trinity of half-brothers is used to protecting and protecting girls in every possible way.
From time to time, the Harrison sisters appear on television. When they and their parents are invited to the next talk show, the audience, along with the experts, unanimously admire the cheerful and energetic babies. Jeff and Darla definitely have nothing to reproach!
Now the unique twins are 14 years old, and the girls have no doubt: a wonderful future awaits them. If you’d like to learn more about the history of the Harrison sisters, check out the video below.
It’s scary to even imagine what fate would have awaited the little ones if their wife Harrison had not noticed. Only thanks to Jeff and Darla, the girls became not just a medical phenomenon, but also happy, contented children!
