Family Showcase: Alexander & Lucas Eppele

This is the Eppele family who were walking in honor of their twins Alexander and Lucas Eppele, born at 29w0d gestation.  They both have Spastic Diplegia Cerebral Palsy...but...they both walked across the finish line!!

Their story:

The twins were born on July 3, 2006.

On Sept 9, 2010, the twins underwent a surgery called Selective Dorsal Rhizotomy (SDR) in St. Louis. This is a spinal surgery where the L1 vertebra are opened, and sensory nerves are permanently severed to eliminate tightness or spasticity in the trunks/legs/feet.. This surgery has enabled the boys to be "walkers" In our case, 60% of their sensory nerves were cut.

One more huge thing to note...We also lost a baby girl, Hannah, at 33 weeks gestational. She had a congenital heart defect and past away on Sept 9, 2005. This is the same date that the boys had their Life Changing surgery. I did NOT have any say in the surgery day. We actually thought that the surgery would take place in December 2010, but got a call and our date was positioned on Sept 9...the 5 year anniversary of our daughters demise. I believe she orchestrated the whole thing!

It's been quite a ride and we've had a lot of support through the community. We are thrilled to participate in March for Babies in memory of baby Hannah and in Honor of Alexander and Lucas!


Thanks! (for reading all of this : )

Jamie Eppele