Adena graduation: No twin left behind

FRANKFORT – When Michael Hunter Robinson lines up to receive his diploma this weekend, he will watch his twin brother, Carter, cross the stage in front of him.

The two have been there for each other nearly every day for the past 19 years, and it has not always been easy. For them, the ceremony marks overcoming obstacles together but having to learn to live apart.

Hunter has relied on Carter most of his life. Both were born 3 months premature, through an emergency cesarean section. Each baby weighed under 2 pounds.

In the three months the twins spent in the neonatal intensive care unit at Nationwide Children's Hospital, Hunter underwent surgery to repair a hole in his heart and in his colon as well as hernia surgery.

It was later that Hunter was diagnosed with cerebral palsy, and because of the complications from the palsy, Hunter had to endure multiple surgeries growing up. Most recently, he had a double hip osteotomy to help correct his balance and posture. Between the surgery, recovery and inpatient rehabilitation, Hunter missed about two months of school.

"He had to learn to walk all over again," Carter said after Hunter's surgery last February.

Luckily, the surgery was planned far enough in advance that Hunter planned for it.

"I arranged my schedule so I was taking easier classes then," Hunter said. "My teachers and aide would give my homework to Carter, and he would bring it to me. I'd finish it and send it back in with him."

Jackie Mace has been Hunter's aide since he was in seventh grade.

"When he had surgery, I'd keep notes and take them to him. He got through everything, we kept him up and he never got behind," Mace said.

As twins, they were in many of the same classes throughout school. Carter would help Hunter with whatever he could, from homework to eventually becoming his "personal chauffeur" once he learned to drive. But that is something Hunter is looking forward to learning himself this summer.

Hunter plans to attend the Ohio University campus in Chillicothe and drive himself to class, while Carter attends Bradford in Columbus for a degree to become a physical therapy assistant in the fall.

"Working with Hunter and helping him during his physical therapy really inspired me to go into this," Carter said. "College will be a shock, but I think we'll be OK."

"He's never complained, not once. And he's always looked ahead; he's got it all planned out," Mace said.

During the ceremony, Adena High School teacher Scott Butler addressed the graduates and reminded them that "they are equal to everyone else." Butler encouraged the students to raise a toast to their parents, family, and of course brothers, that got them to graduation.

Adena High School class of 2015

• Graduates : 78

• Valedictorian: Mackenzie Wright

• Salutatorian: Kirsten Dawson

• Commencement Speaker: Scott Butler, Adena High School teacher

• Class Motto: "When everything seems to be going against you, remember that the airplane takes off against the wind, not with it." — Henry Ford