Couple Receives Ultimate Gift From Friends' Selfless Act

St. James couple Kevin and Nicole Barattini used to think they might never have children, but now they have twins, thanks to a selfless act from their friends.

Right before the two got married in 2010, they learned that Nicole had a rare autoimmune disease, thrombotic thrombocytopenic purpura (TTP).

After they got married, Nicole went to see different doctors for her disease with Kevin, who works as the owner of a DJ business as well as a firefighter for the St. James Fire Department, by her side.

At one doctor's appointment that Kevin couldn't attend because he had work, Nicole went with her parents, and that's when the couple got the terrible news – Nicole couldn't get pregnant.

"That is like, the worst news anybody can ever hear or want to be told that you are not able to have children," Kevin said.

After receiving the news, they started looking into having Nicole's eggs removed in order to be able to undergo in vitro fertilization (IVF), removing a total of 57 eggs.

"We looked into adoption, we looked into all different options, and it took a toll on everything," Kevin said.

The couple then went out to dinner with long-time friends, Shawn and Lianna Fives of East Moriches, who have five children of their own.

Kevin and Shawn met through the fire service in the early 2000s. Kevin was volunteering for the Kings Park Fire Department, and Shawn was volunteering for the neighboring Smithtown Fire Department.

When Shawn's daughter was only a year old, she underwent open-heart surgery, and Kevin made sure to reach out and help their friends throughout the process.

When she recovered fully, they had a birthday party for her, and Kevin offered to DJ the party through his business for free.

"We gave them the works but I didn't want anything, I didn't ask for anything in return," Kevin said.

Little did he know a few years later, Shawn would repay him in a different way.

After Nicole was diagnosed, the couple had dinner with the Fives, where Kevin and Nicole explained their situation to Shawn and Lianna.

Lianna then told the couple, "'Well, I have five children, but Shawn and I plan to have one or two more,'" Kevin recalled.

"We looked at them like 'What are you crazy? You have five children. We can't even have one!' and she goes 'No, you're not understanding. It's not for me. It's for you guys. I'd like to carry a child for you,'" he recounted.

"When they told us, we were in a state of shock," he said. "When the waiter came back to the table, we were all crying. It was something I'm never going to forget."

So the couple used two embryos, and they both took, resulting in Lianna being pregnant with twins.

"It's pretty crazy. It's definitely one for the books," Kevin said. "The fact that someone would do this for somebody is probably the most selfless act that anyone can ever imagine. There's just no words."

The whole pregnancy, the two couples would go to every doctor visit together and would go out to dinner afterward. They had a good, healthy pregnancy and shared a lot of laughs, Kevin said, right up until the day the twins were born.

When Lianna went into labor, Shawn, a funeral director at Fives Smithtown Funeral Home, was working. After hearing that Lianna was in labor, he drove to the hospital in one of the hearses and even valet parked the hearse at the hospital.

"It was hysterical," Kevin said.

The four were all in the room during the birth, and on Feb. 10 at Good Samaritan Hospital Medical Center in West Islip, twins Dominic and Luciana were born.

After they were born, the Barattinis made Shawn and Lianna the twins' godparents.

"We are simply blessed," Kevin said. "We got an instant family."

Now, the two couples want to make their story public in order to be able to share their experience with others in similar situations.

"We're all as one, collectively, looking to help others, and if there is someone that has the heart or the gift or the selfless act that can do this for someone else, it's the most amazing thing in the entire world," Kevin said. "It's giving other people hope, a lot of people who think the end of the road is near and it's not. One way or another with modern technology, you can get it done to say the least."

The four are now working with local legislators to make surrogacy, which is not recognized in the state, a simple process in New York to help couples like the Barattinis, as well as same-sex couples.

"We're looking to help everyone," Kevin said.

Photos courtesy of Kevin Barratini