TWO fraternal twins from Kentucky are as close as they can be – despite one being mistaken for a younger sibling due to their significant height difference. Cassidy and Caroline Carter are 23-year-old sisters from Tompkinsville, Kentucky. The pair are two peas in a pod despite Cassidy being over a foot taller than her sister. Caroline was born with McCune-Albright syndrome, a disorder that affects the bones and skin. The condition makes Caroline’s bones incredibly fragile and she has broken at least 50 throughout her life.
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00:00I'm 5'6", and I'm 4'3", and we're fraternal twins.
00:08Growing up with McEwen Albright, I've definitely broken over at least 50 bones.
00:13It was definitely hard just to see my best friend, twin sister, go through all the pain that she went through.
00:20I'm definitely protective over Caroline.
00:22If I see anyone staring at her, I'll go up to her and be like, do you want to take a picture or something?
00:27I will not let anyone overstep her or anything.
00:31I'm 5'6", and I'm 4'3".
00:37So that's a foot and three inches difference.
00:40Hey buddy, how's the weather down there?
00:42Pretty cold.
00:45Hi, I'm Cassidy.
00:47I'm Caroline.
00:48So I'm the oldest by one minute.
00:50And I'm the baby.
00:51I think our relationship is extremely close.
00:54We are definitely best friends, and we tell each other everything.
00:58And I think we're just closer than what normal siblings would be.
01:03I think I'm more into school.
01:05I'm going to medical school, but she's going to law school.
01:08I'm a perfectionist.
01:10I'm more easygoing.
01:12I'm very competitive, too.
01:13I'm not competitive at all.
01:15It didn't surprise me when I found out I was pregnant with twins.
01:19I noticed when she was born that there was a brown spot on her back.
01:25And we took her to a physician, and they just biopsied it.
01:29We found out Caroline had McEwen-Albright syndrome right after the biopsy.
01:33At six months, we noticed that she was having problems.
01:38McEwen-Albright is just a bone disease where my bones break very easily.
01:42And once they break, they keep breaking because when they heal,
01:46it's not regular bone that comes back.
01:48It's really soft, fibrous tissue, just really, really soft material.
01:52McEwen-Albright is caused by just a random mutation in her chromosomes.
01:57And it just happens randomly.
01:59Like one in 10 million people is what the rate is.
02:02So I was the lucky one.
02:05Over my life, I've definitely broken over at least 50 bones.
02:09We were in the doctor's office almost monthly there for a while.
02:14It was legs and arms mostly, sometimes ribs.
02:17She was riding in a car at a amusement park,
02:21and somebody bumped the back of us, and she broke her leg.
02:24It was definitely hard just to see, like, my best friend,
02:28twin sister go through all the pain that she went through.
02:31I broke my femur in, like, three places when I fell one time.
02:36And they got it in a surgery and realized it was a lot worse than they expected.
02:40And the only way to, like, put it in the cast correctly for it to heal right,
02:45I had to do the body cast.
02:46Pick her up like this.
02:47Had to pick me up like that.
02:49Had to ride in the car in the back seat laying down if I went anywhere.
02:53It was a rough time.
02:54It was a rough time.
02:56She kind of came immune to breaking a bone.
02:58I just went and cried, just like,
03:00ah, broke my arm, let's go to the basketball game.
03:02She broke it so many times that the pain just came normally.
03:05Yeah, it just didn't hurt anymore.
03:07I just was used to it.
03:08Where I'd break them so much when I was little,
03:10it just completely stunted the growth.
03:12So after, like, I broke them so many times,
03:15I stopped growing pretty much in, like, 6th grade.
03:18Based on my height, most people think I'm, like, 6th grader, 5th grader.
03:23And I'm like, no, I'm 23.
03:25Thanks, though.
03:26I'm definitely protective over Caroline.
03:28Like, if I see anyone, like, staring at her, I'll go up to her and, like,
03:31do you want to take a picture or something?
03:33I will not let anyone overstep her or anything.
03:36I'm about to start medical school.
03:38We are going to be four hours apart, which is the furthest we've ever been.
03:42Ever been, yeah.
03:44Nervous, but excited to do our own thing.
03:47Face time.
03:48Yeah, we'll definitely be face timing.
03:50It makes me anxious because, you know, I've always had her,
03:53and she's been my best friend, so it's going to be really hard.
03:56But like you said, we've got to grow up and do our own things.
04:00And eventually, I guess it's going to happen.
04:02Yeah, it's going to happen sometime.
04:04Even though we're going to live in the same house.
04:06Yeah, we plan to live in the same house when we get, like, 30.
04:09Yeah, just raise cats and dogs.
04:10Yeah, so you don't want to get married.
04:13So we're about to head to Del Hollow Lake.
04:16It's basically our second home.
04:19We have a houseboat down there and a speedboat.
04:21We go every other weekend with her friends.
04:24Caroline definitely lifts our confidence when we're around her.
04:27She's always our hype woman.
04:30She always just brings us joy.
04:32I think she's 100% a badass.
04:35She's, like, the most inspirational person that we have in our group.
04:39Also, like, she's super positive.
04:41There definitely couldn't be a Caroline without a Cassidy,
04:43and there couldn't be a Cassidy without a Caroline.
04:45Definitely not.
04:46I feel like since they've grown up together and they know each other so well,
04:48they've kind of molded each other into the person that they are today.
04:51And I feel like any disability or anything has never even been a factor in that whatsoever.
04:55Caroline and Cassidy are both great friends, and they love each other.
04:59They support each other.
05:01And that's a great relief to me,
05:04knowing when I'm gone that she'll take care of me.
05:12Honestly, Caroline, you're the strongest person I know.
05:15You are.
05:17And I strive to be like you each and every single day.
05:20Love you.
05:21I love you.
05:23That's my hug.
05:24Yeah, that's insane.
05:25Ah!
05:26I love you.