In the small, close-knit town of Opp, Alabama, life usually moves at a gentle pace. It’s a place where childhood is defined by the simple joys of the Gulf Coast—fishing trips, the sight of cattle grazing in open pastures, and the smell of fresh seafood on a Sunday afternoon. But for Misty and Jeremy Hartzog, time has taken on a terrifying, distorted meaning.
Their identical six-year-old twins, Axl and Corbyn, are living a biological paradox. While they have the spirits of energetic young boys who dream of the outdoors, their bodies are trapped in a chronological nightmare. They are battling Telomere Biological Disorder (TBD), a cruel affliction that forces the body to age with a speed that defies nature.
1. The Paradox: Six Years Old, Eighty-Five Years Within
To look at Axl and Corbyn is to see the innocence of childhood. They love cows. They love the water. They love the messy, joyous experience of a seafood dinner. But beneath the surface, their cells are whispering a different story.
“Right now, our twins’ cells are the equivalent of an 85-year-old,” Misty shared.
Telomeres are the protective caps at the ends of our chromosomes—think of them like the plastic tips on shoelaces. In a healthy child, these telomeres are long and robust. As we age, they naturally shorten. But in Axl and Corbyn, the “shoelaces” are already frayed to the end. At an age when they should be at their most resilient, their cellular makeup is as fragile as that of a great-grandparent. Every scrape, every cold, and every day of growth carries a biological cost that most of us won’t face until the winter of our lives.
2. A Double-Edged Sword: Stability vs. Storm
For the Hartzog family, the struggle is not a single front; it is a landscape of shifting shadows. Corbyn, though living with the same TBD diagnosis, is currently considered “stable.” But “stable” is a relative term in their world. It means a life of hyper-vigilance, with trips every three months to Cincinnati, Ohio, for grueling tests to ensure his fragile cells aren’t failing.
Then there is Axl.
As if the burden of TBD weren’t enough, Axl is fighting a second, even more aggressive enemy: Grade 4 Glioblastoma. This is a highly invasive, fast-moving brain cancer. Doctors believe this tumor is unrelated to his TBD, making his situation a statistical anomaly of the most heartbreaking kind. Axl isn’t just fighting a body that is aging too fast; he is fighting a disease that is trying to take his time away altogether.
3. The Pilgrimage of Hope: Memphis to Cincinnati
The Hartzogs have become modern-day nomads in search of a miracle. The sheer logistics of their lives are enough to break the strongest of spirits.
Axl recently completed a grueling six-week stretch of proton radiation at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital in Memphis. For an adult, radiation is exhausting. For a six-year-old with the cellular fragility of an eighty-five-year-old, it is an act of supreme endurance.
Without a moment to catch their breath, Jeremy and Misty arrived at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital just yesterday. Axl is now nearly three weeks into a high-stakes clinical trial. This isn’t just medical care; it’s a mission. Every two weeks, the family makes the long trek to Cincinnati for monitoring. At home, life is a delicate balance of daily chemo pills and the support of hospice care—a word no parent should ever have to associate with their first-grader.
4. Clinging to the “Perfect Life”
When you ask Misty what she hopes for, she doesn’t speak in medical jargon or grand ambitions. She speaks in the language of a mother who just wants her boys to be boys.
She envisions a “perfect life” where the boys aren’t defined by hospital ID bands or the taste of chemotherapy. She sees them in the Alabama sun, laughing as they reel in a fish. She sees them wide-eyed at a farm, watching cows in the field. She sees them sitting around a table, enjoying the seafood they love so much.
For the Hartzogs, the “perfect life” isn’t a luxury; it’s the simple freedom of a day without pain. It’s the hope that Axl and Corbyn can outrun their own DNA and the cancer that seeks to stop them.
5. Why the World Needs to Know Axl and Corbyn
Their story is one of the most difficult I have ever shared, but it is also one of the most necessary. In a world that often complains about the passing of time, Axl and Corbyn remind us that time is a gift that some people have to fight for with every ounce of their being.
Jeremy and Misty are living day-to-day. They aren’t looking at years; they are looking at moments. They are showing us what unconditional love looks like when it is tested by the rarest of disorders and the most aggressive of cancers. They are navigating an “impossible path” with a dignity that should stop us all in our tracks.
6. Standing in the Gap for the Hartzogs
The Hartzogs aren’t asking for the world to solve the unsolvable. They are simply asking to be seen. They are asking for the comfort of knowing that when they sit in those hospital waiting rooms in Cincinnati, there are people in Alabama—and across the globe—who are carrying them in their hearts.
We have a chance to be the wind beneath their wings. When the road to Ohio feels too long, when the chemo pills are hard to swallow, and when the news from the doctors is heavy, our collective support can be the light that keeps them moving toward that “perfect life.”
7. A Prayer for the Boys of Opp
Tonight, as we tuck our own children in, let us remember the twins in Cincinnati. Let us pray for Axl’s clinical trial—that the medicine would be smart, the side effects would be kind, and the tumor would retreat. Let us pray for Corbyn’s stability—that his cells would hold strong against the ticking clock of TBD. And let us pray for Jeremy and Misty—that they would find the strength to keep being the heroes their boys believe they are.
Axl and Corbyn, we are proud of you. Your courage is greater than any illness. We are standing with you, one day, one fishing trip, and one seafood dinner at a time.
👇 Please, do not just scroll past. Misty and Jeremy need to see a wall of support today. Leave a prayer, a ❤️, or a message of hope for Axl and Corbyn below. Let’s show them the power of a community that cares.
