Don Lybbert leaned down and kissed his granddaughters Tuesday, just before their surgery began at Seattle Children’s Hospital.
When Emma and Taylor Bailey were born 3 years ago, the conjoined twins weren’t expected to survive more than a few hours.
“They had a seven-chambered heart that no one thought would run,” said Lybbert, of Lynnwood. Instead, they survived nearly four years and were featured on television broadcasts shown around the world.
The twins were at the hospital this week for what was supposed to be a relatively routine procedure — as routine as things could be with two girls sharing a weakened heart.
“They only had one pumping ventricle,” Lybbert said. “A normal human heart has two.”
It was the third time the procedure had been conducted, one step in a long process that they hoped might allow the girls to live separate lives someday.
Although successful twice before, “It just went sideways,” Lybbert said. The girls died at the hospital Tuesday.
A memorial service is scheduled Aug. 21 in Arizona, where their family lives.
The twins would often stay with Lybbert and his wife, Joan Lybbert, when they flew to Seattle for treatments at Children’s.
Lybbert said he has been touched both by how the story of his granddaughters’ lives has affected people throughout the world, and how many people, even strangers, stepped forward to help throughout the girls’ lives.
One recent example was Nick Rothrock of Marysville, owner of Slumber Ease Mattress Factory. Lybbert had gone to his store about six weeks ago to pick up a custom mattress that would allow the girls to lay down more comfortably in the car.
As he got ready to leave, Lybbert asked about the bill. “There is no bill,” Rothrock told him.
The twins were two of six children of his daughter, Mandy Bailey, and her husband, Tor Bailey. The twins required the couple’s near-constant care.
Every night they had to be turned every couple of hours. “They would get tired and sore,” Lybbert said. They would call out, ‘Mom, turns us over. It hurts.’ “
Taylor, the stronger of the two girls, always shared her strength with Emma. Although it overworked Taylor, “her body was doing everything she possibly could to make up for Emma’s weakness,” he said.
The girls had recently learned to walk on their own. One Sunday last month, they stood at the front of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Lynnwood while other children sang a song to them.
Lybbert said he and his family are grateful to the staff at Children’s, who, he said, provided unusually loving care.
Even as he mourns his granddaughters’ passing, Lybbert said he’s left with many good memories and experiences.
One occurred as he drove the girls to Children’s on Monday. Emma and Taylor were practicing a song they had learned in church, “I Feel My Savior’s Love.”
“They were humming it together,” he said, “in perfect pitch.”
Sharon Salyer: 425-339-3486 or salyer@heraldnet.com
On the Web
Messages for the family may be left at their blog, www.emmaandtaylorbailey.blogspot.com.
Donations also are being accepted for funeral expenses.
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