TO HAVE CHILDREN, MUCH LESS A HUGE LOVING FAMILY, BUT MIRACLES DO HAPPEN. >> THEY'RE IN LOCK STEP. NEARLY EVERY MOMENT. >> OH, GOSH. HALF OF THE TIME, WE'RE LAUGHING. >> YOU MIGHT EVEN SAY, INSEPARABLE. >> ALTHOUGH 55 YEARS AGO, IN A SMALL MISSISSIPPI TOWN, CALLED INDIANOLA, THE MATTHEWS TWINS, LILLIAN AND LINDA, ACTUALLY WERE INSEPARABLE, WHEN A YOUNG PHYSICIAN FRESH OUT OF MEDICAL SCHOOL MADE A LOUSE CALL EXPECTING A ROUTINE CHILDBIRTH WITH THEIR MOM. >> SHE WAS IN LABOR AND THEY COULDN'T FIGURE OUT WHAT WAS GOING ON BECAUSE MY TWIN HERE, SHE KEPT COMING OUT, AND THEN SHE WOULD GO BACK IN, PULLED BACK IN, COME OUT AND PULL BACK IN. AND THE DOCTOR REALIZED SOMETHING WAS GOING ON HERE. >> THAT SOMETHING TURNED OUT TO BE TWO BABY GIRLS CONNECTED FROM THE STERN UM TO THE NAVAL, AND SHARING A LIVER. NEARLY THE EXACT SAME CIRCUMSTANCES AS TWINS JUST SEPARATED AT COOK CHILDREN'S MEDICAL CENTER IN JANUARY. >> YOU HAVE TWO BABIES. IN TWO SEPARATE BEDS. >> THE IMPROBABLE STORY PROVIDING A SPOTLIGHT FOR WHAT'S POSSIBLE. AS THE WOMEN SAY, MEDICAL JOURNALS AT THE TIME PRONOUNCED THEM THE FIRST SEPARATED TWINS TO SURVIVE AND THRIVE AFTER THEIR SURGERY AT A MEMPHIS HOSPITAL. >> HOW HIGH WERE THE ODDS THAT YOU TWO WOULD BE LIVING TO HAVE THIS CONVERSATION WITH ME TODAY? >> PROBABLY ZERO. >> YEAH. THE ODDS OF SURVIVING. BUT WE WERE SEPARATED FIVE WEEKS OLD. >> I THOUGHT IT WAS SIX. >> IT WAS FIVE. >> OKAY. >> FIVE WEEKS OLD, WE WERE SEPARATED. >> FIVE 1/2? >> FIVE AND A HALF. >> THE BANTER. INDICATIVE OF A DEEP BOND. BEST UNDERSTOOD BY THOSE WHO SHARE THOUGHTS. >> HOW OFTEN DO YOU TWO FINISH EACH OTHER'S SENTENCES. >> A LOT. >> AND OFTEN, A COMFORTABLE GRIP. >> WHAT MAKES YOU WANT TO GRAB EACH OTHER'S HANDS. IT IS JUST NATURAL, YOU KNOW, WE COULD BE GOING THROUGH SOMETHING AND SOMETIMES WE JUST LAUGH. >> FOR THE TWO TEACHERS OF 30 PLUS YEARS, WHO GREW UP WITH NINE OTHER SIB BLINS, A FATHER A PASTOR AND PRINCIPAL AND A MOTHER WHO FER VENTLY SUPPORTED EDUCATION, FAMILY WAS THE BACKBONE OF EVERYTHING, EVEN AS THEY WERE TOLD THEY WOULD NEVER BE ABLE TO HAVE KIDS. >> HOW MANY KIDS AND GRANDKIDS DO YOU HAVE? >> TOGETHER WE HAVE SEVEN CHILDREN AND 16 GRANDCHILDREN. >> THAT INCLUDES LILLIAN'S GREAT GRANDCHILD CALANI, PART OF A RICH FAMILY TREE STEMMING FROM THESE MATRIARCHS. >> DOES THAT FEEL LIKE A MIRACLE TO YOU? >> OF COURSE IT DOES. WE ARE WALKING TESTIMONIES. >> A BONDS OF BROTHERS, SISTERS, COUSINS THAT COULD HAVE BEEN ONE MORE, BUT LILLIAN AND LINDA FACED ARGUABLY THE BIGGEST HURDLE DECADES AGO, AND THEY DID SO TOGETHER. >> SHE WAS PREGNANT, AND I REMEMBER I JUST STARTED FEELING PAIN AND I STARTED FEELING JUST WEIRD, JUST STRANGE, AND I TOLD MY HUSBAND, I SAID SHE'S HAVING A MISCARRIAGE. AND WITHIN TEN MINUTES, HER HUSBAND CALLED, SHE JUST HAD A MISCARRIAGE. AND THAT WAS PROBABLY ONE OF THE TOUGHEST TIMES, I THINK. THAT WAS ONE OF THE TOUGHEST, TO FEEL HER PAIN. >> THE TEARS THEY'VE SHARED, AND THE LOVE AND SUPPORT THEY'VE SHOWN MAKES THESE TWO SISTERS AND THEIR STORY TRULY ONE OF ONE. A RAY OF LIGHT FOR THOSE PARENTS WHO MIGHT BE WONDERING ABOUT THE HEALTH OF THEIR OWN BABIES. >> WHAT DOES YOUR STORY SYMBOLIZE FOR THOSE FOLKS? >> HOPE. >> HAVING A HEALTHY SET OF TWINS AND THEY CAN SURVIVE. >> AMAZING. >> AND TO ADD AN EVEN MORE UNLIKELY CHAPTER TO THE BIRTH, WHEN LINDA CAME OUT SECOND, SHE WASN'T BREATHING BUT SHE HAD A HEARTBEAT AND THE DOCTORS BROUGHT HER BACK TO LIFE. THEIR MOM'S WISH WAS TO HAVE THIS STORY TOLD ON A NATIONAL STAGE. AND FINALLY, GUYS, IT HAS BEEN. >> IT GETS BETTER. >> AND IMAGINE THE DOCTOR WHO DID THAT IN 1965. MAKING A HOUSE CALL, TOO, WHICH WAS THE WAY IT WAS IN A LOT OF PLACES. >> IMPROBABLE. AND I THINK THE ONE THING THAT STRUCK ME, TOO, THEY WERE TOLD THEY WERE NEVER GOING TO HAVE KIDS AND THEY HAVE 16 GRANDCHILDREN AND A GREAT GRANDCHILD. BY THE WAY YOU SAW LINDA ALWAYS SITS ON THE LEFT AND LILLIAN ALWAYS ON THE RIGHT, THAT'S HOW THEY WERE WHEN THEY CAME OUT, EVERYWHERE THEY GO, THEY ARE ALWAYS ON THE LEFT
