Nine-year-old Walker Myrick has an incredibly close bond with his twin brother — even though he's never met him. His identical sibling, Willis, died in their mother's womb from a rare condition called twin-to-twin transfusion syndrome (TTTS), a disease that affects identical twins who share a placenta. But that hasn't prevented the two boys from creating a "beyond the grave" connection.

Walker often asks to visit his brother's burial site so he can talk to him. In fact, when Walker was only five, he asked his mom, Brooke Myrick, if he could visit his brother so he could tell him about his first day of kindergarten. Brooke recalls turning around and finding him sitting next to Willis' grave talking to him. "I saw him sitting there and knew I had to snap a photo," she told Mirror.

This content is imported from Facebook. You may be able to find the same content in another format, or you may be able to find more information, at their web site.

Now, at 9 years old, Walker still frequently asks to visit his brother, making sure they go every holiday and some additional days on top of that. "Identical twins are known to carry a very strong connection and I believe it's still there with my boys," Myrick says. "Walker has a drive to make sure Willis is never forgotten."

This content is imported from Facebook. You may be able to find the same content in another format, or you may be able to find more information, at their web site.

Now, Myrick is fighting to raise awareness of TTTS, which she hadn't heard of before Willis' death. "We were not screened for it, nor did our doctor refer us to a specialist or even know that my boys were identical and sharing a placenta," she says. "We fight for awareness because of the lack of knowledge that our doctor possessed about this disease."

This March marks the fourth annual "Walker and Willis birthday walk," which the family is hosting to try to raise money for the TTTS Foundation. "Ten years without my sweet Willis does not seem right," she says. "But Willis lives on through Walker and all he does to fight TTTS."

h/t Mirror

Lauren Smith McDonough Senior Editor Lauren is a senior editor at Hearst.

This content is created and maintained by a third party, and imported onto this page to help users provide their email addresses. You may be able to find more information about this and similar content at piano.io