The conjoined twins were born with their heads joined, but at the age of one, doctors separated them: here’s what the girls look like today.
These conjoined sisters were born with their heads fused 😱 The separation surgery was extremely complex, as doctors had to separate not only the skull bones but also part of the brain 😲 The girls were only 10 months old when the procedure took place, and fortunately, it was a success 😍
Today, the girls are 9 years old. Of course, their development is a little different from that of their peers, but overall, they live like normal children 💖
Erin and Abby Delaney were born in July 2016 in Philadelphia. The girls came into the world as an extremely rare form of conjoined twins — craniopagus — meaning they were joined at the head.
Their skulls and parts of the brain membranes were fused, and doctors knew from the very beginning that without a highly complex surgical intervention, they would not be able to survive for long.
When the girls were only one year old, the doctors made the critical decision to separate them. The parents were told the heartbreaking truth right away: there was a high risk that one of the girls would not survive the surgery.
Separating the skull bones was possible, but separating the brains was a task worthy of space-age technology. The neurosurgeons knew that even a millimeter of error could cost a life or cause a severe disability.
The surgery lasted more than ten hours. It was a meticulous procedure carried out by an entire team of surgeons and specialists. But the incredible happened — the operation was a success, and both girls survived.