Twins Gavin and Wyatt were born at just 22 weeks — each weighing barely more than a pound. Now 2 1/2 years old, they are thriving and have become the “tiny mascots” of the New Hampshire Mountain Kings, where their mom, Madisen Glaze, works as the team’s athletic trainer.
“We talk about how sport teaches you a lot about life,” said Head Coach Cameron Robichaud.
For the Mountain Kings, those lessons are often delivered not through a locker-room speech, but by watching Gavin and Wyatt defy the odds.
Glaze said she remembers the night she went into labor vividly.
“We drove down to Boston. It was raining. It was, like, really stormy that night,” she said.
She was only 22 weeks pregnant.
Once doctors explained the odds, Glaze said she prepared for the worst.
“Once they told me that, you know, there wasn’t really a very good chance, and if they did survive, they would be severely disabled, bedridden, and the chances of them having a normal life were very low,” she said. “I was like, well, anything else will be a miracle, right?”
She delivered the twins on June 19, 2023 — nearly four months before her due date.
Glaze said Gavin weighed 1 pound, 1.4 ounces, and was about 11 inches long. Wyatt weighed 1 pound, 0.4 ounces.
“They were so, so tiny,” she said. “Their diapers are, like, the size of an AirPod case.”
The twins were intubated and rushed to the NICU. Glaze said it was two weeks before she and her husband could hold them.
“I was like, am I giving him a hug for the last time I’m ever going to see him alive,” she said. “I was scared and nervous.”
The roller coaster continued for about 5 1/2 months in the hospital, she said, with surgeries and procedures along the way. The boys came home with medical equipment, including tubes and oxygen.
But they came home.
“I mean, they’re miracles through and through,” Glaze said.
Today, Glaze said the boys are “curious and relentless,” and healthy for the most part.
Wyatt will need regular heart procedures, she said.
Gavin has cerebral palsy and is still learning to walk independently.
“He walks with a posterior walker and he has leg braces,” Glaze said.
She said both boys have some fine motor delays, but she believes they can overcome challenges with therapy and support.
Glaze said balancing her career with the twins’ medical appointments required flexibility.
“They had appointments in Boston, sometimes two times a week for the first six months that we were out of the NICU,” she said.
Glaze said she spoke with her boss, and the response surprised her: Bring them to the rink.
Mountain Kings head coach Cam Robichaud said Glaze is a key part of the organization.
“She’s, as we say, the glue to our team,” Robichaud said, adding that it helps players to have a “motherly figure” around.
Robichaud said it is not unusual to see a player holding one of the boys in the hallway.
“It’s a bigger picture than hockey, right?” he said.
Glaze said she did not expect a group of teenage and young adult players to take such an interest, but they did — visiting, helping, and spending time with the twins.
“There aren’t words to describe how grateful we are for what we have here,” Glaze said.
Officials at Mass General Brigham confirm that Gavin and Wyatt are the youngest twins to graduate from the hospital’s NICU.
Now, the Mountain Kings’ smallest fans and unofficial mascots are also a source of motivation.
“Miracles can happen,” Glaze said. “And these guys are really just the definition of a miracle.”
Team captain Tanner Anctil agrees. “They’re an inspiration every day.”
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