Brian & Shawn Chrisagis were born with life-threatening allergies to the sun, grass, most food and clothing. The doctors said they wouldn’t live past the age of two, now walking, talking miracles in their forties. The twins were in an incubator for the first two years of their lives, and when they were brought home the windows of their house had to be bricked in to protect them from the sun.

The Chrisagis Brothers’ early years were marked by a series of “tests and errors” by doctors from the US, Italy, France, and Germany. It was discovered the only foods they could eat were soybean milk, sardines, rice cakes, and peanut butter. Their mother (Marguerite Chrisagis) and grandmother (Carmie ‘Nana’ DeFilippo), had to make all their clothing out of the few fabrics their skin didn't create a reaction to. If the sun hit them, they would nearly die, and would have to be rushed to the hospital. If they had to go outside, they would have to be covered up with hats and blankets.