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Grace and McKenna's Story
We couldn't have been more excited on the day we found out we were pregnant with twins. We were thrilled to be planning for a busy lifestyle raising two babies.
Our lives forever changed on the day of our 16-week appointment with Dr. Julian when we were told Grace had Anencephaly. This is a neural tube defect that prevents the brain and skull from properly forming. We were referred to Dr. Meier, who we saw weekly in Marshfield throughout the pregnancy. Two weeks later the identical twins were diagnosed with Twin to Twin Transfusion Syndrome, which is a disease of the placenta where one baby is donating fluid to the other baby. In our case, McKenna was donating fluid to Grace. Kate was placed on bedrest for the remainder of the pregnancy and asked to supplement her diet with high protein drinks. Dr. DeLia performed an operation in Milwaukee to eliminate the fluid transfer between the babies. With McKenna's health not improving, we delivered three months early on January 25. Grace lived for 45 minutes and McKenna was transferred to the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit, where she lived for 15 hours. Both girls weighed about 1 pound and were about 12 inches long. Kate remained in the hospital in Marshfield for eleven days due to complications.
Our experiences have motivated us to organize a benefit in memory of our daughters. We hope the proceeds from today provide comfort to other parents in similar situations.
Kate and Mark
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