Twins Ava and Gracie Crabtree, daughters of Zach and Valerie Crabtree, graduated from Durant High School on May 16, and they have been described as true miracles.
They were born 14 weeks early in 2005. Ava weighed two pounds and Gracie weighed one pound, eleven ounces, and they spent more than 80 days at Baylor Hospital in Dallas.
Mr. Crabtree was the baseball coach at Durant High School at that time and it was his first season. Mrs. Crabtree was teaching fifth grade at Durant Intermediate School.
As first-time parents, the Crabtrees were excited to be having twins.
“We worked with children,” Mrs. Crabtree said. “We wanted to be parents and so when that happened, it was very, very emotional.”
Mrs. Crabtree said her pregnancy was pretty much normal until several days before giving birth to the girls.
“It was a first pregnancy, so I didn’t really know what to look for but I had back pain and I was teaching fifth-grade reading at the time,” she said. “I ended up having them. I went to school on Wednesday, November 30 and about 10 a.m., ended up at the hospital and delivered them that afternoon at the Durant hospital about 5 o’clock.”
Two teams from Baylor Hospital in Dallas came to Durant when Ava and Gracie were born. Both were care flighted to Baylor in separate helicopters. Crabtree said her girls had twin-to-twin transfusion which is when one twin receives more fluids and the other one doesn’t.
“Ava was in pretty critical condition whenever she was born and so she was care flighted first,” Mrs. Crabtree recalled. “So, I stayed a couple of days in Durant and Zach went to Baylor with the girls. That was a very difficult time, but we, at the hospital, we had so many people from the community and within the school district and during that time, just prayed for them and prayed for our family. We had a lot of friends go down to Dallas. We spent 84 days at Baylor Dallas and so, we were able to stay down there and just really by people in our community just helping take care of our family.”
Mr. Crabtree came home in January for school but he drove back to Dallas every day to visit Ava and Gracie all while teaching and coaching at Durant High School.
“We were there from November 30th until February,” Mrs. Crabtree recalled. “I believe the 22nd. They were born November 30, 2005, and then we came home in February 2006.”
Both girls had several surgeries while in Dallas and Ava required brain and eye surgery. She had to be taken to a different hospital.
“The girls were split up for a couple of weeks during that time which was very stressful,” Mrs. Crabtree said. “But, it’s one of those things that was an emotional, literally an emotional roller coaster because with little babies, they can be doing really well and then one thing can go wrong and then they are in critical condition.”
During the first few days at Baylor, the family was faced with a difficult decision on Ava who had coded. The Crabtrees were called into the family room.
“If you ever get called to go the the family room, we figured out really quick that things are critical,” Mrs. Crabtree said. “But at that point, they asked us at that time if we wanted to take Ava off of life support because they thought that she would have a lot of disabilities and we just said no, that we are just going to put our trust and our faith in God and we’re going to try give her the very best chance that we can to pull for her, and then here she is now.”
Ava had a grade 3 bilateral brain bleed at birth and had to have a shunt. Other than that and a couple of eye surgeries, Mrs. Crabtree said the twins have done very well health wise.
“Really, the girls, they both really progressed and they started their developmental goals and so at about 2 years old, we knew that they were going to be okay,’ Mrs. Crabtree said.
The Crabtrees spent more than 60 days at the Ronald McDonald house in Dallas and then had to stay at the hospital hotel at Baylor while Mr. Crabtree drove back and forth from Dallas to Durant.
Gracie applied for a scholarship from the Ronald Mc-Donald house which she received.
“We were very excited about that,” Mrs. Crabtree said. “We did go back to the Ronald McDonald house and volunteer after the girls were born. “But that was a very instrumental place for us that kind of helped house us during that time and so we were excited that she got that.”
Mrs. Crabtree said that during the time at Baylor, they had the best care they could have received.
“We were very fortunate and blessed with that but we had a lot people, and I’ll just tell you, I really credit their success and their health, I really credit that to God for watching over them, protecting them and the many, many people, not just in our community, but our families and friends that reached out to other friends of faith that prayed for them during that time,” Mrs. Crabtree said. They’re definitely a testimony to that.”
Ava required followups ever couple of years with her neurosurgeon.
“When we went back to him when she was 16, that’s when we finally kind of got released from her neurosurgeon, but he went back and showed us the scans of her brain whenever she was first born to now, and he’s just like, she’s a miracle,” Mrs. Crabtree said.
Ava and Gracie have been a joy and the family is very proud of them plus thankful for all of the prayers and support from the community.
“They’ve grown up at Durant,” Mrs. Crabtree said. “People will see them that prayed for them when they were babies and they’re like, ‘Oh, the girls,’ and the girls have no idea who they are. A lot of people know who the Crabtree girls are just because of the community and how we were prayed for and people supported us during that time.”
When they were about 4 years old, Ava and Gracie became ambassadors for the March of Dimes in Durant.
“It’s definitely been a journey but definitely, we’re just so blessed and fortunate,” Mrs. Crabtree said.
Now, Durant’s miracles, Ava and Gracie, are Durant High School graduates.
Durant Schools Superintendent Duane Merideth, who is retiring July 1, said the reason he did not retire last year was because he would not do it until he gave the Crabtree twins their diplomas.
He visited Mrs. Crabtree in the Durant hospital while her babies were at Baylor in Dallas.
“He was assistant superintendent at the time and that left a memory with me just to know how much he cared about the people that work for Durant Schools,” Mrs. Crabtree said. “Years later, he’s always had a very close relationship with Ava and Gracie and he has said the last couple of years that he’s staying to give them their diplomas.
“That just shows you how vested people are in other people of our school system. It truly is one team, one family and that goes back to the girls. I look at them and I think that was a perfect example of people coming together, supporting and continuing years later to rejoice in their successes. Mr. Merideth, he does say that’s one of the reasons he wanted to give the Crabtree girls their diplomas because everybody at that time in our school community, they were all praying and cheering them on.”
Ava and Gracie will be attending the University of Oklahoma in the fall where they will room together. They will be there for each other during this transition just as they always have for their entire lives.
“They’ve always shared a room, too so that helps,” Mrs. Crabtree said. “They’ve had to share a room, they’ve shared clothes, they’ve shared a car.”
Mr. and Mrs. Crabtree are very proud of their twin girls who are now young women.
The family is also thankful for God and the Durant community.
“This is the only place that I’ve ever been that I’ve ever taught or worked and I’m blessed every day by the people that surround me and it’s because we have such good people in our community that are caring and support families in our community,” Mrs. Crabtree said. “We are just super blessed.”
Ava, prior to the graduation, said it feels very good to be graduating and she was ready for it to be over. She said it felt “crazy” to see all of the children she grew up with in kindergarten now graduating from high school.
“But, growing up in Durant, mom teaching in Durant, dad coaching in Durant, like it really is one team, one family and the community is always good,” Ava said.
Gracie also spoke of growing up in Durant.
“I feel like we’re all very close,” Gracie said. “I know everyone or everyone knows of me, so it’s good and like a great community. Aspects of it with mom teaching, dad coaching and our whole life being in Durant, it’s very nice. All of the teachers know who we are. It’s been great. I go to college, that will be a little different. I’m excited, though.”
She said that sometimes, it’s very surprising how many people in the community know them.
“It makes me feel really appreciative,” Gracie said. “They knew me from when I was a baby and they were praying for us and now here we are 18 and about to graduate high school. It makes me really appreciative and thankful for all of the people in the community.”
Gracie was a cheerleader during high school and she is looking forward to attending OU.
“I want to be a dentist, so lots of years of schooling but it will be good,” Gracie said. “We will be rooming together. We’ve done everything together, so we might as well room together for the next four years.”
Ava is going to major in sports business and possibly become an athletic director. She was the Durant Lady Lions softball team manager.
“I’m really not for sure what I want to do with that side, so I really want to work in baseball,” Ava said. “We shall see how that plays out.”
Now, the Miracle Twins are moving on to the next chapter of their lives.
Mrs. Crabtree expressed excitement about Ava and Gracie’s future, but said it has been emotional. She reflected on the time spent as a parent trying to teacher her children independence, learning how to care for themselves and making their own decisions such as wanting to attend college or drive on their own.
“Then, it’s like as a parent, ‘Oh, wait, where did the time go?’ I’m still supposed to be mom, but it’s been emotional but more than anything, I’m so excited about their future,” Mrs. Crabtree said.
David Lively was a registered nurse at the Durant hospital when the twins were born and he spoke of how many lives Ava and Gracie touched then and he said they are touching even more lives today.
“I actually was fortunate enough to help deliver those two,” Lively said. “Their time spent down at Baylor was nothing short of a miracle. Every single day, something else just proves that those two young ladies are destined for big things. From helping deliver them, to watching the crews from Baylor work right here in the nursery, watching the helicopters leave at separate times, they begin touching lives that they didn’t even know they could reach.”
