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Triplets expected to die at birth graduate from high school

PRINCE GEORGE'S COUNTY, Md. (WUSA9) --When they were born, doctors weren’t sure if triplets from Prince George’s County would survive the night.

They not only survived, but thrived. Today, at 17-years-old, Tonika, Toney and Tonisha Byrd graduated from Fairmont Heights High School.

As their parents, Brenda Fletcher and Toney Byrd, smiled and waved at their kids walking to receive their diplomas, they also reminisced about the day they were born: October 10, 1998. A day when they didn’t know if graduating from high school would be possible.

Tonika weighed 2 lbs 3 oz; Tonisha weighed 3 lbs 12 oz; Toney weighed 4 lbs.

“Their uncle used to call Tonika a little snicker bar, a little candy bar, cause she was so small,” Fletcher said.

While she’s happy to see her children graduate and the girls go to Wells College in Aurora, NY and Toney to Prince George’s Community College in the fall, it’s been an emotional week.

“They my babies and they about to leave me,” Fletcher said. “Not seeing them coming back in the door… I'm so used to them going to school and coming back in the door in the evening. But I have to get through it.”

The triplet’s pediatrician, Dr. Marilyn McPherson Corder, said the children were in and out of the hospital for several health problems. She was there today to see the Byrd children graduate and said she was so very proud.

To help fund their next chapter in life, the kids set up a GoFundMe account.

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