THORNTON, Colo. — In life, we all have a story. It's ours to write, create and change.
Though sometimes, it's already written.
Alex and Savannah Birch, twin siblings and sophomores at Horizon High School in Thornton, have an unbreakable bond.
"I've only known a life with my brother, he's my life. He's everything," Savannah said.
The two were born to Lisa Birch, a single mother who was in the middle of a battle with Crohn's disease.
"The doctors always told her, 'you'll never be able to have kids,' she defied the odds and had two," said Andrew Birch, their 22-year-old cousin.
Unfortunately, four years later, Lisa passed away.
The twins soon moved in with their grandparents, and over the years lost two loved father figures in their uncle Brian and grandfather too.
"God has a plan...I don't have all the answers but I firmly believe there's a play," said Cathie Birch, the kid's grandmother.
"There are lots of ups and downs in life, and you just have got to take it," Alex said in an interview with 9NEWS.
Before she passed, Lisa Birch spent lots of her time writing in journals and diaries.
"She journaled her life from a young age…one thing she left the kids was her journals," Cathie said.
One of the diaries had her wishes for her son, how she had hoped he would be a football player. She passed months before the flag football season would have started for Alex at age four.
"August came around and I said, 'I have to follow her wishes,' she wanted him to run that ball," Cathie said.
Alex quickly grew a passion for the game, and did not know of the diary entry until his grandmother told him in middle school.
His cousin Andrew, who played quarterback at Mountain Range high school in his days, taught Alex how to throw the football.
"My grandma would get mad at me 'you're too hard on him' she would say, and I'd say 'Well you'll see one day why I'm so hard on him'" he said.
Alex earned the starting varsity quarterback position. As a freshman.
"Watching him succeed and everything, it's very nice. I know our mom would be proud of him, and I tell him that all the time," Savannah said.
"Me fulfilling that, there's no point in stopping now," Alex said.
And his story continues.
> Be sure to check back for more of our Colorado high school sports coverage Saturday and Sunday morning on the 9NEWS Prep Rally with Scotty Gange!
If you have a story idea you can email 9NEWS Prep Sports Reporter Scotty Gange at scotty.gange@9news.com or via Twitter at @Scotty_G6 or on Instagram at @scottygange
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