They met as babies fighting for their lives. Now they're college roommates.
The two newborn babies had the same critical heart condition and were placed in intensive care rooms next to each other at a Texas children's hospital. Both sets of parents were told their infants had about a 40 percent chance of survival.
"It was so scary and stressful," recalled Kimberly Rippentrop, 54. "We weren't given much hope."
Her son, Seth Rippentrop, and the infant in an adjacent hospital room, Tate Lewis, pulled through after weeks in the hospital following surgeries for hypoplastic left heart syndrome, a congenital condition where the heart's left side doesn't form correctly.
Now 21 years later, they're together again - this time as roommates at the University of Texas at Dallas.
Seth is on the dean's list and is studying physics, while Tate is majoring in business administration and plays on the golf team. They decided to rent an apartment together this fall after arrangements with former roommates didn't work out, said Kimberly Rippentrop.
"It's emotional to see them together again now and know how far they've come," she said. "Their connection is so strong, it's like it was meant to be."
Seth said he got to know Tate when they both attended Camp Moss, a summer camp in Texas for children who have had heart surgeries. Tate is from Paris, Tex., about 90 miles from Seth's home in McKinney.
"We'd see each other at camp every year and we were assigned to the same cabin," said Seth, 21. "Whenever we'd start talking, it was like no time had passed. We'd immediately pick up where we left off."
Tate said the pair quickly bonded because they could each relate to what the other was going through.
They'd also heard stories growing up about how they were in rooms next to each other in the newborn intensive care unit at Children's Health hospital in Dallas.
Kimberly and John Rippentrop and Cheri and Duane Lewis supported each other during the stressful weeks the boys were in the NICU, said Tate, 21.
"Our moms formed a friendship, but because we lived in different towns, we didn't get together very often," he said. "But we'd come to camp and share any difficulties we'd had during the school year - like not being able to participate in everything other kids did because our heart conditions made us more tired."
"It always meant a lot to have somebody who understood like no one else could," Tate said.
After he and Seth were born a few weeks apart, their mothers saw each other in the NICU and said they felt the same emotional connection.
The two families met when Cheri Lewis and Kimberly Rippentrop were each about six months pregnant and went to the same pediatric cardiologist on the day they learned their babies would be born with heart defects.
Kimberly Rippentrop said she saw Cheri Lewis crying as she left the waiting room that day.
"I hope that's not us," Kimberly Rippentrop recalled telling her husband, John. "Then a few minutes later, it was us."
About one in 3,800 babies are born with hypoplastic left heart syndrome in the United States every year, representing 2 to 3 percent of all congenital heart diseases, according to the Cleveland Clinic.
The two couples bonded when they saw each other again in the NICU in August 2002. Their boys each had surgery shortly after birth.
"Our friendship bloomed in the hospital when our boys were next-door neighbors," Cheri Lewis, 55, said. "It was scary to see our babies hooked up to all of these machines to keep them alive, and we were grateful for each other's support."
The first operation for infants with hypoplastic left heart syndrome needs to be done within the first few days of life, said Steve Leonard, Tate's surgeon at Children's Health.
"Without surgery, it's a fatal defect," he said, noting that additional surgeries are required as the patient grows to reconstruct the right side of the heart and allow for better blood flow.
At some point, Tate and Seth may require heart transplants, Leonard said, but for now, they're both thriving.
"I'm inspired by both of them," he said. "It's incredible that they started on this journey together as babies, and now here they are as college roommates."
Seth said it's a coincidence that he and Tate both decided to attend the University of Texas at Dallas.
"We both came in as freshmen and started running into each other on campus," he said. "Every once in a while, we'd get together for lunch and catch up."
When both of their roommates found other living arrangements around the same time, "We reached out to each other and thought it would be a good idea to share an apartment," recalled Tate.
"We remembered our fun times at Camp Moss," Seth said. "Tate has always been a friendly and outgoing guy, and it's been great to reconnect like this."
He and Tate first told their story to NBC-DFW, hoping their experience would show that a serious heart condition doesn't have to be an impediment to living a full life, he added.
"We don't let our limitations define us," Seth said.
Tate jokes that there is at least one new limitation he's learned to live with. While he enjoys cooking homemade chicken and rice, Seth's gourmet skills usually involve ramen noodles and microwaved pizza, he said.
"But please go ahead and make him sound like Chef Ramsay," he said, referring to celebrity chef Gordon Ramsay. "Seth's a cool guy. I'm really happy that he's my roommate."
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