“They were perfect, they were beautiful,” said mother Candice McNeil of her newborn twins.“They'd always grab on to your inner index and hold your finger very tight.”
Candice and her husband Grayson McNeil, from Asheboro, North Carolina, said they found out they were going to have conjoined twins at about 15 weeks into the pregnancy. They said terminating the pregnancy was not an option, even though they were asked if they wanted to once they found out.
“We knew from the beginning it was right to give them the chance at life,” Candice told WFMY-TV.
Candice gave birth on Oct. 26 at the Cincinnati Children’s Hospital, where the couple went for specialized care.
But the twins had health complications since the moment they were born. They had problems breathing and their organs didn’t work properly.
“Sometimes bad things happen to good people and that’s okay,” Grayson told WFMY. “The Lord never removes suffering but he always takes us through it.”
The couple has three other girls.
As the condition of the twins worsened, Grayson and Candice were presented with only two options: either wait for them to suffer cardiac arrest or take them off life support.
“To me it wasn’t even choice,” Candice told WFMY. “You did the best for your children because you love them.”
“We just decided this is enough, they’re not going to make it,” Grayson said. “We prayed together and made the decision to take the vents out. It was definitely the hardest thing I’ve ever done.”
The twins were five weeks old when they passed.
According to a Facebook post from Grayson, the twins passed away on Sunday, Dec. 3.
“We held them and kissed them, told them we loved them, I sang to them and we held their hands. Although my heart is broken. It was a special time that I’m forever grateful for. God gave us 5 weeks 3 days... time we never ever thought we would have,” he wrote.
“Two beautiful little angels that were borrowed to us for a certain time. They were just like little angels, they really were,” Candice told WFMY.
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