Ohio triplets Sadie, Gage and Caydin Barker are used to overcoming the odds.
The siblings were born six weeks prematurely on Sept. 30, 2004 after their mother spent more than two months in the hospital, according to The Epoch Times. Eighteen years later, the Barker triplets just graduated as co-valedictorians and salutatorian of their graduating class.
NBC 15 reports Caydin and Sadie were co-valedictorians of their class at Sebring McKinley High School and Gage was salutatorian; all three were members of the National Honor Society.
“These three are amazing in everything they have done in life so far,” their mother, Becky Pusateri-Barker, said.
Remembering 18 years ago, Pusateri-Barker said she was pregnant with quadruplets in 2004, but one of the siblings died early in her second trimester. To save her three other children, she said she spent 83 days in the hospital to delay labor and give them more time to develop in her womb.
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“Those 83 days I spent in the hospital were some of the most challenging days I have ever had, but I wouldn’t change a thing, because it gave me three of the most amazing children I could [have] ever hoped for,” she told the Epoch Times. “They have been our biggest blessing and our greatest reward.”
The triplets graduated on May 21 along with the rest of their graduating class. All three plan to further their education: Sadie at the University of Cincinnati with plans to attend law school, Gage at the Electrical Lineman trade school and Caydin at the University of Cincinnati to study electrical engineering, according to NBC.
Their mother said she is proud of her children’s accomplishments after they raised them to work hard and persevere even when they fail. However, Pusateri-Barker said she is not looking forward to them leaving home.
“What I do know is I will be making lots of four-hour drives to Cincinnati, and sending lots of care packages to help them along their journey!” she said.
Modern medical advances are enabling younger and smaller premature babies to survive and thrive. The smallest recorded surviving baby weighed less than 9 ounces at birth in California. The earliest known premature baby to survive outside the womb was born at 21 weeks and four days of pregnancy. In 2017, the journal Pediatrics highlighted the girl’s survival story.
This year, twins Adiah and Adrial Nadarajah, of Ontario, Canada, were awarded the Guinness Book of World Records title as the youngest premature twins to survive. Now 1 year old, the twins were born at exactly 22 weeks of pregnancy in 2022 and considered “non-viable.” Their parents, who are devout Christians, said they “prayed hard” and put their faith in God for the twins’ survival.
