Conjoined Twin Girls Faith and Hope 'Gone to Play With Angels' After Surviving 19 Days
The twin girls who shared one body, one head, and one face now share one grave after passing away just 19 days after birth. Their family paid the girls tribute in a touching ceremony and released 19 white doves – one for each day the girls were alive.
The infant girls defied all medical odds to live to be 19 days old, given that they suffered from disrosopus, which means that they had one body and two faces. Faith Daisy and Hope Alice were laid to rest at the Pinegrove Memorial Park in Australia. Family and friends wore pink and white in honor of the little ones and spoke fondly of their time with the girls.
"Every time Faith and Hope would do something, Renee would say, 'Come and have a look at this,' and Simon would bend over and give his daughters a kiss," the girls' uncle, Paul Young, said at the service. "They were born into a life of love no matter how long they lived. In the words of Winnie the Pooh, 'Sometimes the smallest things take up the most room in your heart.'"
The girls were buried in a single, pink coffin that had two crosses on the top. They were laid to rest together. As they were laid to rest, family and friends released the pink and white balloons, and the girls' parents, Simon and Renee, released the white doves. It was a touching moment for the family that struggled against all the odds.
Simon and Renee had decided that they would give birth to the girls, despite doctors saying that the girls likely would not live long. However, they did live long enough to make international news and be christened.
"The first day I saw them I thought they were cute. I love them always," the girls' cousin, Jamie-Lee, said at the gravesite.
"I'm lost for words at the moment," mom Renee said.