News

Benefit planned for family of premature twins born far from home

Koalson Green sits between his sister, Marvel Mae, (left) and brother, Weller William (right). The twins were born very premature and far from home this spring. [photo courtesy of Jill Hill]

By Amy McCraw, Published: August 27, 2026

Churches, neighbors, family and friends will come together in Tuxedo in September to show their love and raise money for a couple that faced the premature birth of their twins this spring while on vacation hundreds of miles from home.

The barbecue benefit for the Green family will be held from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Saturday, Sept. 12 at the park in Tuxedo off Old U.S. Highway 25.
In addition to barbecue, the event will include gospel music, raffles, a bake goods auction, a corn hole tournament and facepainting.
Money raised during the fundraiser, which is hosted by Mountain View Baptist Church and Mountain Valley Baptist Church in the Green River/Tuxedo, community will go toward supporting William and Hannah Green and their twins, Marvel Mae and Weller William, who were born very premature in South Carolina in April. Tuxedo Baptist Church has also offered its facilities for the day, organizers said.
The upcoming benefit and the outpouring of love and support from people – some of them strangers- over the last several months have confirmed her faith in humanity, the babies’ grandmother, Jill Hill, said recently.
“This experience has made me rethink the whole humanity thing,” she said. “There is a lot of good in the world.”
The series of events that led to the twins’ premature birth began when Hill, her daughter, Hannah, and her then 16-month- old grandson, Koalson, headed to the beach for a family getaway on April 1.
The trip was going to be a chance for Hill and her husband, Dwayne, to spend some time with their daughter and her husband and their grandson before Hannah and William’s twins were born in July.
“We were going down early, Hannah and I. The guys were coming later,” Hill said.
But almost as soon as they arrived at their vacation rental on North Myrtle Beach, Hannah began experiencing symptoms of early labor.
After first visiting a hospital on the Grand Strand, an ambulance took Hannah to McCleod Hospital in Florence, S.C, where she stayed until Marvel Mae and Weller William were born at nearly 29 weeks gestation on April 20th. The twins were born more than two months earlier than their due date in July and each weighed a little less than three pounds.
While both babies needed intensive care after their birth, Hill said Marvel Mae “had issues from the get-go” and was flown to the Medical University of South Carolina in Charleston for emergency care at just 3-weeks-old on May 13.
“She was within hours of death when we got flown to Charleston,” she said.
Weller William stayed behind at the hospital in Florence.
When the twins ended up in separate hospitals, the family faced not only the challenge of having newborns hospitalized far from home. The babies were now in different hospitals and more than a two-hour drive from each other.
William quit his welding job as soon as he learned he would need to stay in Florence with his son. But he quickly found another job in Florence that allowed him to live and work near the hospital.
Hannah and her mother headed to Charleston without knowing where they would live while Marvel Mae was in the hospital.
They put the word out on social media as soon as they could that they needed a place to rent. That same night, they heard from a friend of a friend that a woman named Martha Huggins, who owns the Hair Gallery in Hendersonville, had a condo in Charleston.
Hill did not know Huggins when she offered her home free to the family for as long as they needed.
“She’s our angel,” Hill said. “She had groceries delivered before we got there and would not let us pay her a dime. I love her.”
For a time, Hill and her husband, Dwayne, shuttled between Charleston and Florence, sometimes carrying breast milk, to help care for the babies.
After about three weeks, Weller William was transferred to Charleston to join his sister after a bed opened up in the hospital. His father again quit his job, moved to Charleston to be near the babies and again quickly found more work, Hill said.
Weller William, who now weighs about10 pounds, was released from the hospital near the end of July while Marvel Mae, who now weighs almost 7 pounds, was released on Aug. 4.
Both babies continue to need medical care, especially Marvel Mae. She suffered a brain bleed and other issues that complicate her recovery. It remains too early to tell what sort of developmental issues she might face, Hill said.
William’s job transferred him back to the Fletcher/Arden area once the family returned home to Polk County while Hannah remains on leave from her job as a nurse at AdventHealth.
Hill said the family has health insurance, but have bills insurance does not cover.
As stressful as the last few months have been, Hill said her family feels blessed and is thankful for the ongoing support from churches and others in the community.
“It has been one miracle after another,” Hill said. “That was all in God’s plan.”