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They aren't heavy, They're my brothers...
by Janet Caldwell
March 8, 2001
My brother's name is Terry. He is 50 years old. Since our Mother died in 1991 he has lived with me. It has not been easy for either one of us. I am the youngest sibling, out of 4, I am 42 years old.
Our brother Michael is deceased. Our brother Jerry, is Terry's twin. This is where I think the story takes some twists and turns.
You see, both Terry and Jerry were perfectly normal until one dreadful day in the year 1955.
It was a beautiful day and all three of my brothers were walking home from school with their friends.
They were playing around as children do, when one of them accidently pushed Jerry (not Terry) out into the street into on-coming traffic. Jerry was hit by a car, his little cowboy boots knocked from his feet as Jerry went sailing through the air several hundred feet only to land in a crumpled pool of blood.
My two brothers stared in dis-belief at what they witnessed. An ambulance was called by a passer-by. Jerry was rushed to the hospital. He was not expected to live. He lapsed into a coma, for which he would stay for four months.
In the mean-time my Mom had two other children to deal with as I was not yet born. She noticed strange behaviours from Terry. She chalked it off as being upset about what had happened to Jerry.
She was too busy going to the hospital, trying to find someone to stay with Michael and Terry so that she could sit with her beloved child.
In four months Jerry came out of the coma severely brain-damaged. He could not talk or walk. With therapy he acquired these skills and many others. But what about Terry & Michael? What are they doing, how are they handling this?
Michael was very good at laughing through the pain. So although he hurt deeply inside and mourned the loss of the brother that he knew, he found a way to cope and "appear normal"
Terry on the other hand, went from a bright 6yr old who previously had no problems learning to a slower kind of child. Was this somehow a connection between identical twins? He began to wander off, talk to himself, answer himself and have some hallucinations.
By 1967, many years later, Terry tried to commit suicide by an over-dose. Later he said that the voices inside his head had told him to carry out this act. He also thought that the television was sending him signals and that the news-casters were talking about him.
Terry recently got out of a mental institution for a three month stay. He didn't know who I was or anyone else. He thought it was the 1800's. He is currently on three kinds of medications and is doing well.
Jerry is in a state school about 250 miles from me. He is very well taken care of. We visit him as often as we can. He is one of the joys in my life.
Still, I wonder...What is this twin thing all about? Could a tragedy in one twin's life cause the other to fall so much?
God bless them both, my brothers.
©2001 Janet Caldwell
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