Conjoined Twins Separated After 10-Hour Surgery, Parents Grateful to Doctors
- Doctors spent about 10 hours to Separating the conjoined twins through a very risky surgery
- The twins' parents recently spoke to the media and thanked doctors who helped them with their babies' successful surgery
- The conjoined twins had spent about a year in ICU as doctors tried to come up with formulas to separate them successfully
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A grateful American mum and her husband have come out to thank doctors and everyone involved in the successful surgery that saw their conjoined twins separated.
Source: UGC
10-hours long surgery
Maggie Altobelli and her hubby Dom took time to shower praises on people who spent 10 hours working on the ''miracle''.
People.com had earlier reported that conjoined twins Addison and Lilianna Altobelli were successfully separated on October 13 2021, after a 10-hour surgery.
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TUKO.co.ke has learnt the conjoined twins were finally discharged from the hospital following the surgery after spending about a year in intensive care following their arrival.
The conjoined twins are now back at home in Chicago with their parents.
According to Today.com, Maggie who was 20-weeks pregnant and her hubby learned at an ultrasound appointment that not only were they expecting twins, but also the siblings were connected at the abdomen.
Separate hearts
"I was trying to find out the gender of one baby I thought we were having, and then it turned out to be a little more complicated. It was an out-of-body experience." Maggie disclosed.
Media reports intimated that the parents later discovered that while the girls shared a diaphragm and liver, they had their own separate hearts.
Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, where the surgery was performed through a statement disclosed that they were able to go ahead with the surgery after learning the conjoined twins' liver was large enough to divide between them.
"Their shared liver was also large enough to divide between them, making them excellent candidates for separation surgery," a statement from Children's Hospital of Philadelphia read in part.
Maggie and her man were both excited and nervous about what the future held for their twin girls throughout the pregnancy journey.
"It was quite a ride early on because I and Maggie were scared as hell and had no clue what was going to happen. We had to just take it one step at a time." Dom told Today.com.
However, their gods smiled on them as they welcomed their daughters Addy and Lilly, through Cesarian-section on November 18 2020, after coming up with a safe birth plan with their doctors.
Following the delivery, doctors started preparing the twins for their separation surgery, including a 10-month stay in intensive care units at the hospital.
Long process
The hospital revealed that the preparation process included making 3D models of the twin's liver to practice on, as well using skin expanders to help make sure they would both have enough to cover their exposed chest wall and abdomen after the surgery.
"To see them with their own bodies — their bodies were just so perfect — it was amazing. It was just indescribable." Maggie told the hospital in a press release seen by TUKO.co.ke.
According to the hospital, the twins, Addy and Lily who are now 14 months old still use feeding tubes and ventilators to help with their breathing.
Doctors who worked on the twins said they are hopeful the two can be weaned off the ventilators in due time.
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Naa Ayeley Aryee Naa Ayeley is a creative writer with over ten years of experience in journalism and media. She started writing for YEN in 2017 as an editor on the entertainment desk and later became a monitoring editor.
Aba Afful (Copyeditor) Maame Aba serves as a copy editor at YEN.com.gh. She naturally enjoys working with words and has an eye for quality content. She has a keen interest in cyberspace and wants to see YEN.com.gh produce more impactful, thought-provoking, and error-free content. Aba has five years of experience as a content writer, blogger, author, and proofreader. She graduated from the Ghana Institute of Journalism in 2017. She joined the team in 2021.
