For the first two months of his life, Devin couldn't breathe on his own. When he was finally well enough to be disconnected from the ventilator, his parents could hear his voice for the first time.

It took two more months for him to get strong enough to go home, but even after that, there were infections and scares.

Over time, Devin slowly got stronger. After his very rough start in life, he grew to be healthy in every way.

By the time Devin was 2 years old, the horror of what the Otto family went through had faded. Devin was fine. Donna and Dean started thinking about having another baby. Doctors told Donna her chances of having another premature birth were 10 percent to 15 percent. That sounded like pretty good odds, so the Ottos went ahead with their plans.

Then, they found out Donna was going to have twins, which increased the chances of a premature delivery.

Again, everything was going fine until one night, when she was 26 weeks into the pregnancy, Donna started feeling strange pains in her back. She went to the hospital just to check. Seventeen minutes after she arrived, the first twin was born. Seven minutes later, the second boy came, too.

"I looked at the doctor and said, 'I can't believe this is happening again.' She said, 'Me too.' I couldn't even cry. This time, I knew what was in store for us. Here we go again, times two."

Twins Carsen and Blake weighed 1 pound, 12 ounces each.

"Treating one condition would often cause another. Every day seemed to last forever."

Donna has a scrapbook of those awful days. Babies so small their father's wedding ring fit around their entire hand with room to spare. Little faces that can barely be seen behind all the tubes and tape. It was all of the anguish of Devin's start, and more. Still, the twins pulled through.

"I can't believe how lucky I am," she says. "Three times lucky."

Devin is 5 1/2 now and the twins are 2 1/2. They're all fine.

"Today, we don't have any real reminders of prematurity, only the scars from the heart surgeries and slashes on their heels from all the blood tests, things like that. I just have to be thankful all of that is behind us."

Once the twins were on sure footing, Donna started thinking about how she could help other parents of preemies.

"I need to give back. I received so much. I have to do my part."

She decided to start up a family support group where "graduate" families would visit with parents whose children were hospitalized. "Only parents who have been through it truly understand," she says. She soon found out that the March of Dimes was putting together just such a program at Kapi'olani, so she got involved.

"How perfect is that? My dream is coming true and March of Dimes is behind it."

The Ottos are helping to raise money for the March of Dimes WalkAmerica charity walk, to be held in Honolulu on Saturday. The boys have their own Web page where they're collecting donations at www.walkamerica.org/ottoboys.

So far, in this project and in life, the Otto boys have exceeded their goals.