KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Nearly 100 families turned out to St. Luke's Hospital on Sunday to celebrate success and resilience.
"They're my miracle kids," Karen Rieth said with a tear in her eye.
Among many others, Rieth reminisced on her former life.
Her twin children, Alex and Adam, were both 29 weeks premature at St. Luke's.
Shortly after, they were admitted to the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU).
Doctors diagnosed the twins with TTTS, Twin-to-Twin Transfusion Syndrome, a serious condition that occurs in monochorionic twins, according to St. Luke's Hospital.
Alex and Adam shared the same placenta, but one twin gathered more blood and nutrients in the womb than the other.
Many born with this condition suffer lifelong health problems.
The donor twin usually ends up growing smaller in stature, and the recipient twin ends up with heart problems.
"Combined, they've had 24 surgeries," Rieth said.
The twins are 25 years old now. They have graduated from high school, are employed full-time and are healthy.
While they still live with certain complications, they have surpassed their initial prognosis.
"I have St. Luke's to thank for that," Rieth said.
For the first time since the twins can remember, they visited the place where it all started.
On a cross-country camping trip from New Mexico, they stopped at Union Station to visit an honorary brick with their names on it.
The icing on the cake was visiting St. Luke's, a place they once called home.
"It's kind of crazy. I have the scars to prove I was here," Adam told KSHB 41.
On Sunday, St. Luke's held its annual NICU Reunion. Families old, new and local met with a new generation of staff.
"It’s just a really heartwarming experience for everyone," said Mindy Smith, a clinical resource nurse in St. Luke's NICU. "It’s really rewarding the hard work that you put in during the beginning. It's a scary time, and time just blossoms and turns into something special."
While there weren't many familiar faces the Rieths recognized from 25 years ago, they capitalized on the quality time spent together to better understand where life has taken them.
"I think she [Mom] is pretty resilient to deal with all of this," Adam added while looking at the NICU isolette.
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KSHB 41 reporter Ryan Gamboa covers Miami County in Kansas and Cass County in Missouri. He also covers agricultural topics. Share your story idea with Ryan.
