The only thing that comforted this newborn was to be next to his brother

Their parents will always treasure this precious moment between their boys

Facebook / Brandy Guettler

When Mason and his twin brother Hawk were born their parents knew something was wrong with Hawk. He was soon diagnosed with a congenital diaphragmatic hernia. The condition, known as CDH, put pressure on his lungs and made it difficult for him to breath. It also meant and Hawk needed to stay in intensive care to have any chance at recovery.

Mum Brandy says that even though Hawk was the one who was sick, Mason was the one who was most distressed in those early days.

‘He was actually getting really fussy,’ she said, ‘and the nurse said why don’t you try laying him down next to Hawk. I said ‘Can you do that?’ So we laid him there and all of the sudden as soon as he felt Hawk, he reached his arm out and grabbed him and just started to smile. The two of them knew they were there for each other.’

The picture she took of this precious moment went viral, and at the time of writing has been seen by over 6 million people.

Sadly a few weeks after the beautiful photo was taken Hawk’s CDH took his little life. When announcing the passing of their boy on Facebook, Brandy and dad Tommy say they’ll always treasure that photo and the time they got to spend with their boy.