Resting beside his identical twin’s grave, Walker Myrick looks down and tells his brother all about his first day at school. Aged just five, the little boy never got the chance to meet his sibling, Willis, after he died in their mum’s womb from a rare condition.
But despite this, he has a remarkable “beyond the grave” connection with his twin, often asking to visit his burial site to talk to him. On the day the above photo was taken, Walker’s mum, Brooke, climbed out of her car to discover her son had run ahead to speak to Willis.Walker was five and had just started kindergarten,” the 33-year-old told Mirror Online. “I found him like this after getting my baby out of the car.Walker told us he wanted to tell Willis about starting school.” She added: “I saw him sitting there and knew I had to snap a photo.”
Willis tragically died in Brooke’s womb from twin to twin transfusion syndrome (TTTS), a disease that affects identical twins who share a placenta.The condition, which sees one of the twins (the “recipient”) receive a higher flow of blood than the other (the “donor”), can be potentially fatal to both foetuses.
Although Walker survived, his brother passed away at around the 23rd week of pregnancy – after his parents had bought him a crib and clothes.We had bought two of everything,” said Brooke. “It broke my heart to go home and see the double outfits we had purchased the month before.”Now aged nine, Walker often asks to visit his twin’s grave, leading his mum to believe he shares an amazing connection with his sibling, “even in death”.