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Supersize It Ronald McDonald House Rendering
Drew and Brandi Deffenbaugh and their twins
Words Dwain Hebda images Virgila Dale’s Photography and courtesy Ronald McDonald House Charities of Arkoma
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As the incumbent parents of five children, Drew Deffenbaugh and his wife Brandi are no strangers to the arrival of babies. But last year, when their first set of twins arrived six weeks early, they discovered just how much they didn’t know. “Our twins started having issues back and forth,” Drew says. “They took them straight back to the NICU and that’s where they stayed.” The Deffenbaughs, both educators in the Van Buren Public School District, thus began an around-the-clock vigil, while physicians monitored little Kylie and Kade and addressed various health issues as days turned into weeks. “We really didn’t know what we were in for, dealing with all the issues that preemies deal with,” Drew says. “It was stressful; we were there seeing the babies whenever they would let us see them. I could not drag my wife away, you know, we’d hold them whenever we could.”
DOSOUTHMAGAZINE.COM
