The conjoined twin boys that received international support after their high-risk birth last week have died, their parents announced Friday.
Asa and Eli Hamby were born on December 4 in Atlanta, and shared a heart, circulatory system, and liver. They passed away one day later.
"They fought long and hard," the twins' father, Michael, said in a Facebook video posted Friday.
"This morning they started having a little bit of heart issues, and they went into [atrial] flutter," he explained. "Basically one side of the heart was beating faster than the other, and they wasn't [sic] coordinating with each other.
"The medical staff at [Children's Healthcare of Atlanta at] Egleston tried everything possible to put some medicine on them to control the heart rate, and it wasn't doing any good. Their heart rate got all the way up to 300 beats per minute."
The babies passed away minutes after they were removed from the ventilators. Despite their heavy loss, Michael and his wife, Robin, thanked God for allowing the twins to be born.
"I love the Lord with all my heart, and my wife does too," Michael said. "And we are blessed to be able to get this opportunity to go through nine months, then on top of that, I had the opportunity to... have them for a little bit. "
Robin was released from the hospital on Sunday, and is still recovering from the caesarean-section. On Thursday, the Hambys will hold a public memorial service for the boys at Ladonia Baptist Church in Ladonia, Georgia at 6pm. Michael said he hopes to fill all 800 seats.
"I ask that y'all would come out, and let me tell you about my boys," he requested in an emotional video published Sunday. "I'd love to fill that church up."
He also continued to praise God through his heartbreak.
"God is good," Michael said. "Even through this hardship, God is good, and I give him all the glory. He allowed a moment for us to see them, and he didn't have to give that to me, but he did."
