Formerly Conjoined Twins Say Their Life As Teens Is Normal After Nearly A Decade Post-Surgery

Oct 19, 2021 by apost team

Being a triplet is pretty unique, something that Mackenzie, Macey, and Madeline Garrison have come to discover. The three sisters are all incredibly close and are still learning a lot about themselves as they continue to grow up. Although their lives are pretty standard for the average teenager now, their birth story is a special one. 

Mackenzie and Macey were born as conjoined twins attached at the pelvis. Dr. James Stein, chief medical officer at Children’s Hospital Los Angeles, took on the challenge of separating the pair and successfully managed to do so during a 24-hour long surgery in 2003. The girls were only 10-months-old at the time of the intense surgery. It wasn’t long afterward that all three sisters were adopted by a physical therapist by the name of Darla Keller, who was already a mother. She raised the three girls alongside her three biological sons in a loving and caring home in Iowa.

Nowadays, the three sisters enjoy driving around town with their friends, horseback riding, and working their after-school jobs. Mackenzie and Macey each have one leg and use crutches and prosthetics to help move around. They are still close and have a similar group of friends but are working on figuring out more about themselves as individuals. 

Rather than focusing on what they can’t do, the sisters look ahead to their bright future as college students and all of the goals they hope to achieve. As teenagers, the sisters have a lot to look forward to in the upcoming years. Read on to find out more about Mackenzie and Macey’s incredible life journey.

“I do not see myself as special,” Mackenzie told People in October 2020. “I just think of myself as a 17-year-old girl who’s going to high school, who wants to get a job in a career that she loves, and wants to get married and wants to have kids.” Mackenzie enjoys agriculture and plant anatomy, Macey hopes to become a kindergarten teacher, and Madeline strives to become a nurse practitioner. “I think there’s factors of just how I’ve grown up and the people that I’ve surrounded myself with are a lot into medicine,” Madeline explained.

Stein, who separated the previously conjoined twins during a 24-hour long surgery, said that there’s rarely a week that goes by without him thinking about the pair. “I remember watching them shoot through the halls here with their crutches, and to see them riding horses and taking on as normal a life as they possibly could, is really, truly exciting,” he said. Although the sisters haven’t seen Stein in close to a decade, they still keep in touch with him through emails. “It’s been a wonderful experience following the girls themselves and staying in touch with them,” Stein said.

Although the Garrison sisters have been making news headlines since their birth, they don’t see themselves as different from their friends. “I don’t want people to know us at our school as the girls that have one leg and are famous because of their story,” Macey said. “I just want to be myself and go out in public and I want to make new friends.” She continued, “I’ll share my life story, I don’t mind sharing it, but I don’t want it to be a huge thing.”

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The girls' mother, Darla, said that it's a large relief for her to watch her daughters — also known by Darla as her best friends — grow up since their separation:

"I'm relieved because, like I said, we always knew there were going to be bumps in the road and issues...And I didn't know exactly what those were going to be, but it is a relief to see just how normal they are. They're just like their peers."

Back in 2020, Darla spoke to People about how the girls love to give during the holiday season, remarking on her daughters' incredible values and big hearts. Darla said:

"They're just very giving little girls, so they want to buy presents. And now they're working so they all have money and they think spending money is fun. They're very generous."

Back then, Darla also spoke about the girls' goals for 2021:

"That's going to be our focus in 2021: getting graduated and getting scholarships because they all want to go to college. As parents, we have three other boys, so we haven't been able to save a ton of money."

Despite having faced challenges since birth, Darla explained that her daughters are continuous hard-workers, not just given their medical history but also when it comes to academics. Darla said:

"They work hard in school. With the girls being unique and adopted, and just all the challenges they’ve had... we're hoping for maybe some academic scholarships, so we're going to be searching those out."

We hope the girls continue to live their lives to the fullest. 

What do you think about this set of sisters and their inspiring story? Let us know, and feel free to send this to your family members and friends, too.