Last week something historic happened at Cook Children’s Hospital in Fort Worth, Texas.
A set of conjoined twins were separated at only 16 weeks old and they both made it out of the operation room safe.
Four-month-old AmieLynn Finley and JamieLynn Finley were born conjoined from the chest down, and they spent the first months of their lives in the NICU, until everything was ready for the big day.
Right by their side, besides the amazing doctors’ and nurses’ team, have always been their parents, Amanda Arciniega and James Finley.
When, early last year, the couple found out they were expecting, they couldn’t have been more excited. However, the news they found out during the 10-week ultrasound hit them hard.
“[The doctor] said that’s the baby’s head,” Finley recalled. “I was like, ‘What is that?’ and she said, ‘That’s the other baby’s head.’ And I was like, ‘What?’ “
The couple returned home confused, perplexed, and sad.
Sad because of all that was coming up for them and their little angels.
Amanda recalled driving back home and not speaking a word. They just kept wondering “why them”.
But, of course, there’s never an answer to that. And, thankfully, their babies were born and bravely survived the first four months of their lives.
In fact, this is extremely rare.
“As far as conjoined twins that reach and stay viable after birth, at least for the first few days, there’s really only about five to eight of those per year on the entire planet, so it is very rare,” Jose Iglesias, medical director of pediatric surgery at Cook Children’s said.
But the girls kept thriving, even under these circumstances. And their family had been waiting for doctors to come up with the full plan for their safe separation.
Indeed, a few days ago, a large group of doctors and nurses- indicatively, four pediatric surgeons, three anesthesiologists and two plastic surgeons- came together to perform the complex operation.
It took more than four hours in the operating theater before the doctors performed the incision.
After eight long hours, the parents and their families in the waiting room were delivered the news they had been longing for.
At that time, their babies were safe, each in her own separate bed.
Mom and dad shared a tearful hug when they heard the good news. Everyone in the waiting room started crying tears of joy and thanking God and the medical team for taking care of the babies.
Still, it took the team another three hours to finish the operation and make sure everything was working fine for the time being.
For now, the babies are in the NICU and the medical staff is focusing on them breathing fine and not feeling much pain.
It will most likely take more surgeries to make sure their little bodies are functioning perfectly, but the first and most important step has already been made.
And these parents could not be more grateful.
These doctors have just made history!
Head over to the video below to find out more details on this story.
Please SHARE this with your friends and family.
