Identical twins rooted

By Christina

On June 5, 670 seniors from Edina High School will file into the Target Center in downtown Minneapolis to receive their diplomas. Halfway through the line-up, a pair of identical twins will cross the stage — young women with honeycolored hair and soft smiles whose lives have been defined by their faith and friendship.

“I’ll be excited!” said Alanna Halloran, 18, while hanging out at her parish, Our Lady of Grace in Edina, after school on a recent Friday afternoon.

“I’ll tear up,” said Lizzie Halloran, grinning broadly. Two minutes younger, she often mirrors her twin’s expression and completes her sentences. “I’m very emotional.”

Being in sync with each other has long been their trademark.

“We’ll be singing the same song at the same time,” Alanna said.

“And the same verse!” Lizzie added.

The twins, who attended Our Lady of Grace Catholic School, often read from the same prayer devotional. It’s become a regular occurrence that one twin will pick up her phone to call the other right as she receives a call from her sister.

“Being a twin gives you a best friend for life, a partner-incrime,” Lizzie said.

People realize they’re not talking to a couple kids whose lives have been served on a silver platter. These two young ladies have suffered. It’s self-evident. But it’s not a ‘woe is me.’ It’s an invitation to say, ‘Hey, I’ll engage you in a conversation. We all have suffering in our lives.’

That gives them an in on how to share the Gospel

— not only God’s love but the truth of the Church and the beauty of the Church’s teaching.

Father Kevin Finnegan

“An instant tutor, a counselor—” Alanna chimed in.

“—A chess partner!” Lizzie said.

That close bond, along with their deep Catholic faith, has anchored them through a wave of trials and triumphs they never could have imagined. Today, it helps explain what makes the two such remarkable high school graduates.

They’ve been defying the odds since their birth, making it nearly full-term — 38 weeks — and clocking in at 7 and a half pounds each.

The twins’ mother, Danette, recalled the nurse — who was accustomed to much smaller twins — shouting, “Weigh them! Weigh them!”

The girls grew up at OLG — tagging along when their parents Mike and Danette volunteered, helping at Mass as altar servers, teaching faith formation and making presentations at parent information night.

“They’re a shining light of how to grow in faith,” said Father Kevin Finnegan, pastor of OLG. “They dive into things with complete faith in God’s providence.”

That complete faith was evident early in life. At age 12, the twins were diagnosed with a rare genetic disorder called Neurofibromatosis type 2. While it doesn’t shorten life expectancy, NF2 comes with considerable challenges. It causes tumors to form along nerve tissue and can result in complete hearing loss.

The twins immediately saw their diagnosis through a spiritual lens. They had just heard the Gospel account of Peter walking on water by trusting in Jesus. They referenced it and took to comforting their parents. They could weather this storm by reaching for Jesus’ outstretched hand.

“Their parents said, ‘We’re supposed to be the ones consoling our daughters,’ and they’re saying, ‘Mom and Dad, it’s not that bad,’” Father Finnegan recalled. “That comes from a place of faith.”

Danette agreed. “I often joke that there’s a lot of reverse parenting in our home because Lizzie and Alanna have an uncanny ability to remind us of God’s love and our Blessed Mother’s influence when we need it most,” she said.

That ability left a powerful impression on Sister Julieta Del Carpio, OLG’s confirmation coordinator and middle school youth minister. “What stands out to me is their sensitivity toward things of God. There’s a surrender to that supernatural vision,” she said of the twins. “It’s not only about what’s going on in my life now, in a worldly or human way, but it’s about God’s plan in my life.”

Mike credits their faith community. “As Father Kevin likes to say, ‘We lead with yes,’” he said. “That’s a really giving, open, loving approach to life.”

Paving the way

Looking back, the twins see how God was readying them for NF2.

“I think God set us up to be in a really good place to mentally accept the diagnosis,” Lizzie said. “OLG prepared us to know we’re not just living for this world — and life will not be perfect. And a diagnosis is a blessing because it’s a way to make your life difficult, which you can offer up.”

“It’s like St. Peter saying, I am grateful for adversity, which produces endurance, and endurance builds character and leads to eternal life,” Alanna added. “It really helps to know that bearing an illness on earth will have fruit in heaven — so it’s like you’re honored to have this.”

Lizzie agreed. “I see how unique our opportunity is,” she said.

Living with the unknowns of a degenerative disease — punctuated by regular hearing tests — has forced the twins to focus on the present and fix their eyes on God.

“Life on earth is so short compared to heaven,” Lizzie said.

From the onset, the twins trusted that God would use their disorder for some good.

“They believed they would do something great for God with this diagnosis and that their world would become bigger with new experiences that could help others grow closer to Christ,” Danette said.

Since the diagnosis, they’ve endured many health challenges, including two brain surgeries for Alanna and a spine surgery for Lizzie. But that belief, time and again, has held true.

“100 percent,” Alanna said.

The blessings include friendships with doctors and nurses who now feel like family. Mike and Danette have made every effort to build fun into NF2-related appointments, bonding the family of four. They bought each girl a horse — a longtime passion that helps with their balance, which can be thwarted by the genetic disorder.

It’s become an opportunity for evangelization, Father Finnegan said. “People realize they’re not talking to a couple kids whose lives have been served on a silver platter. These two young ladies have suffered. It’s self-evident. But it’s not a ‘woe is me.’ It’s an invitation to say, ‘Hey, I’ll engage you in a conversation. We all have suffering in our lives.’ That gives them an in on how to share the Gospel — not only God’s love but the truth of the Church and the beauty of the Church’s teaching.”

Mike and Danette recognize how NF2 has given the twins a new perspective, producing an empathy for others that’s off the charts.

It draws in their peers, who confide in the twins and seek their counsel, Sister Julieta said. “If someone is struggling and shared something with me, I could see they were also talking to the twins. They wouldn’t go to just any friend, but to them, because they knew they are close to God so they would have something wise to say. Their peers see them as a reference, as someone to look up to.”

Meanwhile, the twins are constantly offering each other encouragement, sensing when the other may be spiritually dry.

“Having a twin really helps me grow in my faith,” Alanna

“Whenever lukewarm, which behind,” Lizzie appropriate Bible post—”

“—Or just talk,” Faith is a powerful of adolescence, “Teenagers aren’t fully developed,” a lot of pressure faith lets you a million majors going to become you to be.”

Earlier this day and receiving condition of her when a classmate religion.

“I stepped out some Hail Marys,” cortex isn’t fully been really helpful emotions.”

Their maturity in social justice refreshing youthful to laugh, swapping amusing memes

Transitioning

The transition year at Our Lady ninth grade, their Edina High School,