Conjoined Twins See Each Other’s Faces for First Time After Being Separated
- Posted on September 15, 2011 at 4:08pm by
Liz Klimas
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Once back-to-back, Joshua and Jacob Spates are now face-to-face after 13 hours of surgery.
The 7-month-old boys were conjoined at the rump — pelvis and lower spine — until a rare procedure separated them August 29 and was announced Tuesday.
Adrienne Spates greets her son, Jacob, after he returns from surgery. (Photo: Le Bonheur Children's Medical Center)
The Daily Mail reports Dr. Max Langham, one of the surgeons at Le Bonheur Children’s Hospital in Memphis, saying: ‘Joshua’s doing great, and hopefully he’ll be up and going and have a pretty normal lifespan.
He told TODAY that while Jacob has more serious heart problems ‘our cardiology team has very high hopes his treatment… will be successful’.
‘If they had not been separated, sometime in the next year or two, they probably would have passed,’ Dr Langham said.
Watch the Today Show report:
Only once in the past 11 years have pygopagus twins, which represent 15 percent of conjoined twins, been successfully separated with both children surviving, said Giancarlo Mari, director of the Le Bonheur Children’s Hospital fetal center and a professor at the University of Tennessee Health Science Center.
MRI image of the conjoined twins before they were born. (Photo: Le bonheur Children's Medical Center)
According to this video interview with the hospital’s neonatologist Marilyn Robinson, the boy’s mother Adrienne said she knew Joshua “needed to be free”:
The doctors and parents decided to wait till the boys were seven months old to separate them. Even though Jacob was born with a serious congenital heart problem and high blood pressure in the lungs and waiting increased his risks, Joshua needed more time to grow.
Joshua Spates at 10 weeks old. (Photo: Le Bonheur Children's Medical Center)
Anesthesiologists came up with a novel way to practice flipping the patients during the surgery without tangling the various lines attached to them: They rehearsed it on a pair of Cabbage Patch dolls sewn together.
“Everyone laughed about the dolls … but by the time the day of the surgery came, you would have thought we’d been doing it a long time,” said Joel Saltzman, director of pediatric anesthesiology at the hospital.
At left, Anesthesiologist Joel Saltzman and Plastic Surgeon Robert Wallace, right, discuss how they will flip the Spates twins during a critical point in the separation surgery. (Photo:Le Bonheur Children's Medical Center)
Doctors involved in the procedure spoke to reporters Wednesday about the challenges, which included avoiding injury to the spine.
Bill Warner, an orthopedic surgeon in the hospital’s spine clinic, said the boys have health problems that will require ongoing treatment, but he expects Joshua will be able to walk with braces and hopes that Jacob will do the same.
“The outlook is bright as far as them being functional in the community,” Warner said.
Jacques Samson, a maternal fetal medicine fellow with the health science center and the fetal center, delivered the babies Jan. 24. He said the surgical teams were prepared at the time for the possibility that the twins would have to be separated immediately.
Fortunately, they were healthy enough to wait.
Joshua and Jacob Spates were born in January as conjoined twins and were separated August 29. (Photo: Le Bonheur Children's Medical Center)
“You prepare for the worst and you’re ready,” he said. “You have a plan B and a plan C. You have to prepare and you have to simulate. We had our dolls sewn together, too.”
Samson said he became close with Adrienne during months of counseling before the babies were born.
“It was a long journey,” he said. “I’m happy for her and happy for the twins. She was always poised, always had it together. I’m amazed at her and her strength.
“She has great support. We’re all ecstatic for her and her family.”
One of the challenges the boys will face is walking, but doctors expect they’ll both be able to do so with braces. The boys each had their own head, heart and lungs.
Watch this 3-D reconstruction of 320 slice CT Scan images of the conjoined twins:
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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Comments (55)
football lady
Posted on September 15, 2011 at 8:33pmMay God continue to bless them all. What a wonderful story.
Report Post »swampcooler
Posted on September 15, 2011 at 8:29pmits all about you joshua. from the thread tone and hue, it seems jakes not very welcome.
Report Post »Mimi24
Posted on September 16, 2011 at 8:07pmI‘m very glad that it’s not up to you to decide.
Report Post »marine43
Posted on September 15, 2011 at 7:22pmHopefully the Blaze, will keep Us updated. God Bless that family. Prayers…
Report Post »sndrman
Posted on September 15, 2011 at 7:15pmwish them a healthy happy long long life and GOD’s grace and love.
Report Post »DEADDOGSRUN
Posted on September 15, 2011 at 7:03pmSuch good news! thanks for including this on the newsfeed Blaze!
Report Post »tickbite queen
Posted on September 15, 2011 at 7:00pmAnd they want to change our health care system. Just look at what they have done to the post office…
Report Post »GOD HELP US ALL…
dlechkun
Posted on September 15, 2011 at 6:53pmWhat an absolutely beautiful story and beautiful babies!! Please keep us posted on their progress.
Report Post »(side note to editors, it was a GMA story, not Today Show)
mils
Posted on September 15, 2011 at 7:05pmbeautiful , simply beautiful
please keep us informed how they do..
Report Post »mauijonny
Posted on September 15, 2011 at 6:40pmAwwwww.
Report Post »Stuck_in_CA
Posted on September 15, 2011 at 7:06pmWow. Marilyn Robinson”s words were terrific. She told the story in depth. I believe God gives special needs children to special parents. Sounds like mom is that.
Report Post »God Bless all the “nurse mommies,” all the Doctors and staff. Such very special people.
pollyanna
Posted on September 15, 2011 at 6:15pmWhat beautiful babies, and a beautiful story. God Bless these wee ones; God Bless the medical staff; God Bless the people of Memphis Tennessee; And thank God that these precious babies were born in the United States.
Report Post »patrickrose
Posted on September 15, 2011 at 6:04pmThank God for the worlds best Dr in the world. Now lets stop the spending in obama care.
Report Post »4merhipie
Posted on September 15, 2011 at 5:57pmWe are so blessed to be born in this country. Even with all of our issues, its still the greatest country in the world. I thank God I live here. I am so glad these boys were born here too, so they have access to great doctors. (hands guided by their creator)
Report Post »Atomic
Posted on September 15, 2011 at 5:52pmGreat story! God bless them! I hope they have a healthy life.
Report Post »Elena2010
Posted on September 15, 2011 at 5:44pmThanks for the encouraging story!
Report Post »rmw
Posted on September 15, 2011 at 5:41pmJust to clarify to those who want to know who paid the bills… LeBonheur hospital in Memphis is supported by the good people of Memphis Tenn. No child is turned away because of the inability to pay. If the family has insurance they accept what the insurance pays. If they do not then the bills are taken care of by donations from the good people of Memphis Tenn. LeBonheur does not seek donations outside of Memphis because so far the people there have had good enough hearts to take care of the monetary needs of the hospital. I thank God for the good people of Memphis Tenn.
Report Post »georgiavietvet
Posted on September 15, 2011 at 5:36pmthe one thing missing from this story is the father. is he in the lives of these 2 great little ones? i would assume that he is not. God bless these 2 beautiful babies, their mother, and the medical staff that performed the operation. it’s just a shame that there doesn;t appear to be a father in the picture………………………………
Report Post »mauijonny
Posted on September 15, 2011 at 6:33pmWho‘s that man she’s hugging at the end of the Today Show clip?
Report Post »felix
Posted on September 15, 2011 at 5:16pmobumbler care would have left them together !
Report Post »CatB
Posted on September 15, 2011 at 5:39pmUnder Obamacare ..give them a pill .. just like granny.
Report Post »profile-two
Posted on September 15, 2011 at 5:09pmI wish them all of Gods Blessings and a wonderful life ahead. They are so beautiful……….
Report Post »Thanks also to the Doctors and Nurses.
pavepaws
Posted on September 15, 2011 at 5:18pmCorrection, bless All the emdical staff.
Report Post »Brae
Posted on September 15, 2011 at 5:01pmBeautiful.
Report Post »sheria-never
Posted on September 15, 2011 at 4:45pmWho——- -just who —– paid the bill ????????
Welfare ?????
Report Post »piper60
Posted on September 15, 2011 at 4:57pmwhy is money your first concern?
Report Post »Conservative_Tongan
Posted on September 15, 2011 at 5:04pmYou’re being ridiculous. You sound like an anti-tea party pretender. This is a wonderful story that warms people’s hearts. You forget that even conservatives still believe in charity. Your cracked out assumptions just make you look foolish. Don’t speak without evidence.
Report Post »jedidiah
Posted on September 15, 2011 at 5:36pmI suppose it is possible that as a taxpayer, I may have kicked in a very small fraction of a penny, and while I am very proud to be a completely unapologetic constitutional conservative . . . . . . I am even prouder that my country has the miraculous medical technology, the skilled, caring medical doctors, and the societal selflessness to make these small personal sacrifices for the future of these two blessed children.
Report Post »pollyanna
Posted on September 15, 2011 at 6:19pmC’mon, have a heart.
Report Post »mauijonny
Posted on September 15, 2011 at 6:38pmPoser.
And if they didn’t have insurance, read the posts – notice above poster who says that the folks of Memphis generously donate to this hospital and that this hospital will turn away NO ONE. No 0bamacare, just good ol‘ American’s looking out for one another.
Report Post »MidWestMom
Posted on September 15, 2011 at 6:59pmI‘d rather see taxpayer dollars spent on these babies instead of Michelle Obama’s vacations.
Report Post »Mainer forever
Posted on September 15, 2011 at 10:28pmI‘d rather see taxpayer dollars spent on these babies instead of Michelle Obama’s vacations.
Report Post »—————————————————————————————————————————————–
I second that!!!! (Good one Midwestmom!!!)
Mimi24
Posted on September 15, 2011 at 11:11pmYou read this story and that’s your response? Did you look at the pictures of those babies and not feel some compassion for them or their parents? No joy that they have a chance to enjoy life as we live it? My tax dollars are used for many things. I consider this one a good spend. May God continue to bless this family.
Report Post »Jake Dog2
Posted on September 15, 2011 at 4:28pmHow great is this story.!!! What a gift to the family was this.
Report Post »pavepaws
Posted on September 15, 2011 at 5:16pmBless the boys and the doctors.
Report Post »EqualJustice
Posted on September 15, 2011 at 4:28pmOHH, that made me CRY! How amazing is this story? THIS is exactly why we don’t want to change our health care system! WE HAVE THE BEST IN THE WORLD! :)
Report Post »KSherrell
Posted on September 15, 2011 at 4:27pmPraise God for saving the lives of those precious little boys. I pray that the continue to grow healthy and strong. Great story
Report Post »KSherrell
Posted on September 15, 2011 at 4:25pmPraise God for the life of those little guys for guiding the surgeons hands during surgery. I pray they both grow up healthy and strong. Great story…
Report Post »biohazard23
Posted on September 15, 2011 at 4:20pmAren’t they precious! Awww…… God bless them.
Report Post »Bro Geo Too
Posted on September 15, 2011 at 4:20pmThis is a beautiful story. The main page picture showing the one twin looking at the other depicts such tenderness and joy. Would that we adults could be so innocent. Thanks, Blaze.
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