It's never a bad time to take a moment and thank our lucky stars for pediatric medicine. These beautiful twin boys were each born with a different form of congenital heart defect, and despite dozens of procedures, they're healthy and living their best life; playing Rugby on the weekends.

Benson and Albert Tass were each born with heart valve problems and had to be operated on immediately after their mother, Maria, gave birth to them at Queensland Children's Hospital (QCH).

Dr. Nelson Alphonso, a pediatric cardiologist performed the operation which saw Benson and Albert taken from their mother immediately. The poor woman wasn't afforded even a moment to hold her newborns before they were rushed away.

Dr. Alphonso performed open-heart surgery on both infants; a cardiovascular reconstruction with a bovine pericardium. Benson went into sepsis, and had to be washed out with three liters of water. A month passed, and Maria admitted she was "sad all the time" but then, a phone call arrived early on Christmas morning from QCH.

They "came out on top," said Maria, who was finally able to visit the hospital and hold her boys.

"I have many patients who are twins and one is perfectly fine with no congenital heart defect," Dr. Alphonso told ABC News, Australia. "So to have two twins at the same time with a related heart defect is very unusual."

More than 2,800 children have received lifesaving heart surgery at QCH, which opened the very year Albert and Benson were born.

Dr. Alphonso said that of this number, 40% weren't even a month old at the time.

The twins have undergone countless tests, scans, and procedures since that discordant entry into the world, but mother Maria and father Farron do everything they can to ensure they are able to live their best lives.

This has included playing Rugby 7s on the weekends for years.

"I try to let them live their best life, and experience life as much as they can, but also protect them as much as possible," Maria told ABC.

It won't be long now before the twins are set for their first return to QCH since the surgery for a check-up with Dr. Alphonso, who hasn't seen them since they were tiny infants.

The mortality rate of children with congenital heart defects in Australia has fallen so low thanks to the success of institutions like QCH, that now research and funding is focused on morbidity.

Dr. Alphonso admitted that the field has rapidly advanced over the last decade, and that the majority of the pediatric department's focus is now tailored towards reducing the complications as much as possible.

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