The heartbreaking story behind the image of a five-year-old boy at the grave of the dead twins

Walker Myrick was excited to share his first day of kindergarten with his twin brother, but since Willis couldn’t be there, the little boy told him all about it.

Getting ready for his interview, Walker rested on the grass, bowed his head and leaned his back against a small headstone with the name Willis Myrick on it.

“My brother died, I wanted to share how it went and tell him what I did,” Walker said of Willis, who was not alive when he was born with his twin brother on March 6, 2007. Keep reading to learn more about the image that shares the precious moment between Walker and his brother!

The tragic story behind Walker’s visit with his brother to Center Hill Cemetery in Lexington, Alabama, began years ago when Brooke Wade (formerly Myrick) was six months pregnant with identical twins.

When Wade, now 40, arrived at the doctor for a routine ultrasound, he heard devastating news.

One of the boys, Willis, had no heartbeat.

Wade had a condition called Twin-to-Twin Transfusion Syndrome (TTTS), in which blood flows unevenly between identical twins who share a placenta.

TTTS is not hereditary or genetic and if not diagnosed and treated, it results in one baby, or both, being fatally starved of essential nutrients.

“I was 24 weeks when we found out, but they said it had been at least a week, so we really don’t know when Willis passed away,” Wade told People in 2017, emphasizing the importance of weekly ultrasounds for mothers experiencing carrying twins. . “That was the problem with being pregnant with twins. I could still feel movement, so I didn’t know I had lost a baby.”

Wade adds, “We were already shopping when we found out. We had cribs, clothes, toys… You expect to take home two babies.”

‘Really struggled’

On March 6, 2007, at just 32 weeks of pregnancy, Wade gave birth to two babies, but only one lived.

“Looking back, I don’t even know how I handled it. I think about it now and it upsets me to think that I experienced that,” Wade said in an interview with Time. “I just had to focus on Walker.”

The mother, who admits she “really struggled for a number of years,” spoke openly to Walker, now 17, and explained what happened to his twin brother.

She also took him to the cemetery regularly so he could place toys on Willis’ grave.

“Even as a baby, I would always talk to him about Willis and he would smile,” says Wade. “When he was one or two years old, he would run to the grave. We would say, ‘That’s your brother. There’s your twin brother.’ Because I always wanted him to know where he was going. I always wanted him to know that this was an open part of his life and that he didn’t grow up thinking, “I can’t talk about my brother.”

The family continued to keep Willis’ memory alive with Walker’s siblings Jolie, 16, Cooper, 11, and nine-year-old Bryant.

They also organized the Walker and Willis Fundraising Walk for a few years, raising awareness and money for the TTS Foundation. And every year around the twins’ birthday, Wade shares the image that continues to touch the hearts of people around the world.

The timeless image

In 2017, Wade explained that she was driving her son home from his first day of kindergarten when he asked her for a detour.

“As we passed the cemetery, he said, ‘I want to see Willis,’” Wade, now 40, told People in 2017. “I parked and he ran ahead while I unbuckled his brother from his car seat. The only thing I had with me was my iPhone. I didn’t expect to take a photo. But when I walked up and saw him like that, it was just one of those moments where you think, ‘This is really special.’”

She quickly snapped a photo and captured little Walker, five at a time, sharing a moment of absolute affection with his twin brother.

The heartwarming photo, taken in 2012, shows the little boy sitting on the grass, leaning against a gravestone that reads: “Willis Michael Myrick, March 6, 2007, twin brother of Walker.”

Walker’s mother wanted a moment with his twin brother and said he was only there for a few minutes, and when he was done, “he just laughed.”

“My brother died, I wanted to tell him how it went and tell him what I did,” Walker said. “I feel like he’s happy in heaven and he’s watching over me.”

Wade – who is no longer with Walker’s father Michael Myrick – believes Willis gave his life to save his twin brother’s life.

“If Willis had lived and the transfusions had continued, I wouldn’t have had any more babies,” she says. “Willis could very well have saved his brother’s life by his death.”

What do you think of the photo that communicates so much love between Walker and his twin brother? Please let us know what you think and share this story so we can keep Willis’ memory alive!