In July 2016, the twins Erin and Abby Delaney were born, such an event should have brought great joy to parents, but in this case, the joy was replaced by a feeling of anxiety.
The babies were born 10 weeks ahead of schedule, each of them weighed 900 grams. But the worst thing was that they had a spliced brain and the doctors did not give any predictions.
But the parents themselves did not even think of giving up, they pulled themselves together and decided to do everything for their daughters, to use the most miserable chances, if only to help them.
When Erin and Abby were 11 months old, the doctors decided on the most difficult operation, but they did not give any guarantees, there was a very high risk of the death of one of the sisters.
The operation lasted 11 hours, the babies were separated and, fortunately, both survived.
At the moment, the girls are almost 4 years old. They feel good.
“I admire our little ones. They are so wonderful and they are real heroes. They had to go through such difficult tests, but they all survived, ”says the mother of the girls, Heather Delaney.
The doctors were satisfied with the operation, they regularly monitor how the girls grow and develop, and this gives them hope for the same successful operations in the future.
By the way, this operation was the first in the history of medicine when Siamese twins were separated at such an early age.
Due to the fact that Erin’s skull was not so badly damaged, she was able to recover faster than Abby, who remained at risk of hemorrhage and infection for some time.
Before the operation itself, doctors warned parents that there were many risks. The entire separation process was led by Dr. Gregory Hoyer. To stretch the skin on the baby’s head, doctors placed special balls in their skulls.
“I can admit that we ourselves were scared. But we tried to turn off these emotions and operate on the children, no matter what, ”shared Dr. Hoyer.
After the operation, the babies were put into a state of artificial coma so that their bodies could recover from the stress.
Both girls are now undergoing therapy to restore brain functions that did not develop when they were paired.
Of course, in the coming years, the sisters are waiting for other operations – they will reconstruct their skulls and insert the missing bones.
Happy parents Erin and Abby are very grateful to the doctors for the fact that their girls grow up next to them and really hope that they have a happy and amazing life ahead of them, which they deserve, having survived such trials.