Great hope for disabled twins

Catherine and Alvin Barthell care for their great grandchildren, Natalie and Andre.

When her drug-addicted granddaughter prematurely gave birth to twins six years ago, Catherine Barthell didn't hesitate. Little Natalie and Andre, both facing serious disabilities, belonged with her and her husband, Alvin, not in some foster home.

``These are my children,'' says Barthell, 63. ``I don't think I could live with myself if they went into foster care . . . We did the best we could, and here we are.''

Above the kitchen table in her Miami Gardens home hangs a framed ode to motherhood that seems fitting, since Barthell is mothering children for the third time. She raised her own five kids and took care of two of her grandchildren.

Now she's ``Nana'' to Andre, who may need surgery for a benign brain tumor, and Natalie, who wouldn't be able to walk without physical therapy. But their health problems -- which Barthell attributes to their mother's prenatal cocaine use -- haven't dimmed Barthell's hopes.

Hanging in the living room is a framed photograph of the twins in white caps and gowns from graduation at the University of Miami's Linda Ray Intervention Center for disabled babies and toddlers. Now they are in kindergarten at Parkview Elementary.

``I want to raise them up, train them, teach them to be good people in society who go to school and go to college and get a good education,'' said Barthell, a daughter of Georgia sharecroppers who never finished high school. ``That is my prayer. For them to be something.''