Rare Conjoined Twin Boys Undergo Surgery, Seperated After 27 Hrs

October 15, 2016 14:07
Rare Conjoined Twin Boys Undergo Surgery, Seperated After 27 Hrs

After 27 hours of surgery, conjoined twin boys Anias and Jadon McDonald who were joined at the head 13 months ago began a new life apart on Friday.

The surgery took place at Children’s Hospital at Montefiore Medical Center in the Bronx on Thursday morning and ended Friday. The separation procedure itself lasted 16 hours, followed by more hours of surgery to rebuild their skulls and make them whole.

Rare Conjoined Twin Boys Surgery
Jadon was the first of the boys to be finished. He was wheeled out of the operating room around 7:40 a.m. on a stretcher, his perfectly shaped head wrapped in white gauze.

He was taken on an elevator to the pediatric intensive care unit on the 10th floor, where he was reunited with his parents, Nicole and Christian McDonald.

“My boy,” Christian said with tears in his eyes.

Nicole bent over in tears.

Rare Conjoined Twin Boys Surgery
More than five hours later, around 1 p.m., surgeons finished operating on Anias, and he was taken to the 10th floor unit - where the family was finally reunited.

Rare Conjoined Twin Boys Surgery
The surgery was led by Dr. James Goodrich, considered the leading expert on what’s known as craniopagus surgery.

Nicole and Christian had to make an agonizing decision, opting for the procedure even though it carried major risks, including the possibility of death or long-term brain damage for one or both boys.

Studies showed that if conjoined twins are not operated it carried risks: 80% of twins joined at the head die of medical complications by age 2 if not separated, studies show.

Goodrich informed the family of the separation around 3 a.m.

“Well, we did it,” Goodrich said.

On her Facebook page, Nicole wrote: “TWO SEPARATE BABIES!!!…and yet I ache with the uncertainty of the future. I didn’t cry until the surgeons left the room. I was barely able to even utter the words ‘thank you’ because of the pit that still sits heavy in my stomach. We are standing on the brink of a vast unknown. The next few months will be critical in terms of recovery and we will not know for sure how Anias and Jadon are recovering for many weeks.”



The McDonalds and Montefiore hospital invited CNN to document this remarkable and rare journey of Jadon and Anias, allowing CNN exclusive access into the operating room throughout the procedure.

Yet before Nicole and Christian learned their boys were now two individuals, Thursday was a day of high emotion and high stakes, of anxious parents and calm medical professionals. It was a day of uncharted territory and amazing, one-of-a-kind surgical activity.

And amid it all were two infants beautiful boys with deep brown eyes and a shared swirl of hair at the top of their foreheads. They came into the world together, and became two individual boys overnight.

Also Read: Conjoined Twins Veena-Vani's Parents Approach Govt

BY M.DIVYA SRI

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Tagged Under :
Conjoined twins  New York  surgery  Jadon  Anias