The two infants were split up earlier this week at a hospital in Texas after being born in October. Conjoined twins were successfully separated on January 23 by medical professionals at Cook Children’s Medical Center in Fort Worth, Texas. The procedure lasted 11 hours and involved 25 individuals. specialists in medicine. According to NBC Fort Worth station KXAS, James Finley and Amanda Arciniega of Saginaw, Texas, are the parents of twin girls named AmieLynn and JamieLynn who were born in October.
The couple talked about their amazement at finding out they were expecting conjoined twins during a program that aired on TODAY on January 26. Arciniega recounts as she sobs, “We were silent on the drive home, and that was sad.” There is just one conjoined twin for every 200,000 live births. Doctors may find it difficult to separate AmieLynn and JamieLynn since they share a liver and are connected from the lower region of the sternum to the navel. The first step in treating conjoined twins is not stated in any medical textbook, according to Cook Children’s Hospital plastic surgeon Dr. Ben Gbulie.
Six surgeons from a team of 25 medical professionals are tasked with helping the girls. Dr. Jose Iglesias leads the effort and says it shows how human spirit and cooperation can be accomplished. “This is a testament to the human spirit that continues to research to be able to have technology to do extraordinary and complex things,” he said. Regarding the way forward, Iglesias remains optimistic.
“I’m very hopeful that they’re going to have a good recovery and lead healthy lives in the future,” he told Cook Children’s Hospital. “They’re going to have a bit of a ramp up from the recovery, but I think they’re going to be able to get there eventually and very close to normal, if not completely normal.”
