After moving to a mansion on the outskirts of Illinois, Nicole and Christian McDonald realized that having just one child in such a vast home would be rather lonely. That’s when they seriously considered having a second child.

In early 2015, Nicole discovered she was pregnant and was thrilled for the first few months until an ultrasound revealed that she was expecting conjoined twins. The specialists at Nicole’s clinic shared some very sobering statistics. The babies were expected to be born with their heads joined together, and there were only a few successful cases of separating such conjoined twins.

Nicole and Christian pondered their options but ultimately decided to give the boys a chance! In September 2015, twins Jayden and Anias McDonald were born. By then, the young parents had already found a clinic in New York willing to help. They had to relocate to the city temporarily.

A team of 40 top specialists worked on the 13-month-old twins for a grueling 27 hours, and the procedure cost the parents two and a half million dollars. Today, Jayden and Anias are nearly 8 years old. After the separation, the boys initially lagged behind their peers in development, but the gap has been closing over time. Currently, only Anias continues to face difficulties (he has speech problems and barely walks), but Nicole and Christian hope to address these issues with the help of doctors in the coming years.

Nicole frequently shares her sons’ progress on social media. She describes what happened to her children as a true miracle and wants as many people as possible to know about their story.