Our Fraternal Twins with Turner Syndrome are Rare Butterflies - by Erica Drews

My name is Erica Drews, and I am a mother to fraternal twin girls who both has Turner syndrome (TS). My butterflies were born two months early and spent the first part of their lives in Neonatal Intensive Care.

They are now 3 years old and busy little butterflies! We have had a long journey, but these girls are resilient! Along with multiple TS health related issues like cardiac, horseshoe kidney, gastro issues (feeding tube), and dysphagia (trouble swallowing), they also have autism spectrum disorder (ASD).

We started early interventions at birth and are hoping to continue throughout their lives. I wanted to share our story because I am told how rare our case is. Our smaller twin (Isabell, 45X) was diagnosed at birth, but our bigger twin (Ellanor, mosaic) was not diagnosed until 2 years old. We were told she did not have the symptoms.

It is rare for fraternal rather than identical twins to both have TS because they were fraternal. It turns out we have TWO miracles on our hands! My butterfly babies are so strong, and they are the reason I want to fight every day to spread awareness and our story.