12-Year-Old Twin Survives Deadly Brain Condition And Manages To Defy All Odds

Feb 11, 2020

It's any parent's worst nightmare: walking into a room and finding your child collapsed. For Peggy and Jeff Kehoe, that was a horrifying reality. On February 9, 2013, she entered the bathroom to find one of her twin girls, Hailey, lying on the floor.

The 12-year-old was unconscious and mumbling a jumble of slurred words. The girl also complained of excruciating pain in her head.

The frantic parents rushed their daughter to the hospital. Doctors discovered that Hailey had suffered a brain hemorrhage. When the hospital chaplain arrived, the Kehoes feared that their daughter wouldn't make it, according to the video by the Penn State Hershey's Children Hospital.

Doctors said there was nothing they could do, but Peggy and Jeff refused to sit and wait as their daughter died before their eyes. They flew Hailey to Penn State Hershey Children's Hospital via Life Lion, a critical care transportation crew.

There, doctors performed emergency surgery to reduce pressure in Hailey's brain. By then, she was in a coma on life support.

Although she must have been terrified, Jenna, Hailey's twin, refused to leave her side. Peggy recounts watching her daughters together.

"Jenna held her hand and told her she needed to pull through this."

Losing a sibling is hard enough to imagine, but losing your twin would be like losing your other half. Jenna and her parents stayed by Hailey day and night. Soon, doctors came to reveal that Hailey had been born with a brain arteriovenous malformation (AVM).

This malformation in the brain results in a mass of blood vessels that connect different arteries and veins, as described here by the Mayo Clinic. The operation was successful, and Hailey woke up shortly after. Her survival story, which is covered in the video below, is a heartwarming tribute to the power of family.

Who helped you get through the hardest time in your life? Give them a shoutout in the comments. And pass this wonderful story on to your friends and loved ones. Let´s appreciate what and whom we have today.