A home in County Antrim, Northern Ireland,
There lives a pair of lively and cute twin girls - Annie and Issie.
Like all the sisters of the world,
One minute, they were happily hugging and playing and clapping their hands, and the next minute they were crying over a little thing.
But no matter what happens, they will still return to each other, like an invisible magnet that draws the two together.
In fact, Annie and Issie are much closer to each other than others.
At birth, the chest and pelvis of the two children were joined together, and they were one of the few conjoined babies who were successfully separated by surgery.
In 2016, the girls' mom and dad, Dan and Hannah, tied the knot,
The two are childhood sweethearts who have known each other for many years,
The first thing after marriage is to quickly have the crystallization of love.
But after trying for a long time, there was still no movement,
They went to a local fertility center for consultation, but the specialist said that their current medical condition did not allow them to receive medication.
If she wants to get pregnant, Hannah must first lose a lot of weight.
She did not hesitate too much and lay down on the operating table,
Through gastric bypass surgery, her stomach was cut into two parts, one large and one small, and only the small stomach could digest food, so as to reduce appetite and achieve the purpose of weight control.
The results were immediate, and in just one year, Hannah's weight dropped from 127 kilograms to 70 kilograms, and the whole person was completely new.
（Dan和Hannah）
Due to the shortage and short supply of drugs, the two had to wait another half a year to get fertility drugs.
However, Hannah, who recovered her health, soon became pregnant naturally.
At their 12-week checkup, doctors told them that Hannah had twins in her belly.
This is great news for the couple, and years of anticipation have finally heard back.
But before I could rejoice, a basin of cold water was poured down,
The doctor went on to say that the child may be MCMA (Single Chorionic Monoamniotic Sac) twins.
This type of twin is very rare, accounting for only about 1%-2% of identical twins,
Both fetuses share the same placenta and chorion, and are in the same amniotic sac.
Not only rare, but also very high-risk, MCMA twins also have a much higher risk of miscarriage, malformation, and stillbirth than other fetuses.
Hannah and her husband were horrified by this series of horrific proper nouns,
They immediately found an expert consultant for examination, but the results confirmed once again that the two children were not only MCMA twins, but also more critical and rare conjoined babies.
Until now, Hannah is reluctant to recall the moment when the doctor announced the results of the test.
Her brain went down, her eyes went blank, and she couldn't even be sure if she had actually processed the information.
She only remembers telling her family that MCMA twins are the riskiest and rarest of twins, and the only ones worse than it are conjoined babies.
Coincidentally, his daughters were both.
The only good thing is that although the two children are connected from the chest to the pelvis, their hearts are separated, and each has a healthy and independent heart, which is the key to the separation operation.
Moreover, the children did not show any other signs of genetic abnormalities.
Although the two share a liver, this organ has a unique regenerative ability and can therefore be split in two.
The doctor told the couple that they had the right to choose to terminate the pregnancy.
But if you insist on giving birth to your child, the family will also receive full support.
Despite knowing the difficulties ahead, Hannah and her husband chose to keep their children.
For them, giving up was never an option considered.
On the advice of her doctor, Hannah, who was 26 weeks pregnant, moved to London.
In this way, in case of emergency, you can get professional help and treatment in time.
They were originally a little worried about the cost of living.
But with the help of a local activist, the couple were funded to rent an apartment five minutes' walk from Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children (GOSH). After the birth of their two children, they became regular visitors to the hospital.
Hannah was in London for about two months.
During each prenatal check-up, she and her husband would eagerly look at the two thumping hearts, afraid that something would go wrong.
Fortunately, everything went smoothly.
Fast forward to March 8, 2022, when the two children were born by cesarean section.
The hospital is very cautious about this operation,
They distinguished the two babies by color, Annie was pink and Issie was yellow,
Each child has their own equipment and nurses, and the medical staff has repeatedly rehearsed.
The couple was also arranged to visit the Children's Hospital's Intensive Care Neonatal Unit (NICU).
Seeing those emaciated little babies and the complicated equipment, both of them couldn't help but cry.
When entering the operating room, Hannah involuntarily felt scared,
The atmosphere in the room was very tense, and no one could guarantee that the baby would still be breathing when it was born.
Fortunately, it didn't take long for a crisp cry to come out, and everyone breathed a sigh of relief,
The children are sent to a side room next to them for assessment and stabilization treatment,
Both girls were very energetic, and Annie even kept waving her arms to pull out all the tubes on her body.
Mother Hannah needs to stay in the hospital bed to rest because of excessive blood loss, and can only join the children after a day.
Dad Dan and his two daughters were urgently transferred to a children's hospital for further evaluation and treatment.
To everyone's surprise, the children are doing very well,
After only four days in the neonatal intensive care unit and another three weeks in the general ward, the family of four was allowed to be discharged and returned to their London apartment.
Originally, the separation surgery was scheduled to be performed a month after the girls were born.
But because two children were infected with the new crown, the operation was postponed until July,
It was later postponed again for various reasons.
This time became the couple's heart disease, like living in a fog and unable to find direction.
But they never gave up on letting the two girls undergo separation surgery, both of whom have independent hearts and can live apart.
For parents, this is the only option.
Eventually, the separation surgery was rescheduled for September 19,
Later, the day was declared the Queen's funeral day, bringing more uncertainty.
National holidays coupled with traffic stoppages have brought great difficulties to the passage of medical personnel,
But everyone on the team worked hard to get back to the hospital and complete the operation for the two little girls.
The operation lasted 18 hours, like a long marathon.
More than 30 specialists from orthopaedics, haematology, urology, surgery, anaesthesia, orthopaedics and intensive care departments participated to support the two babies.
Anxious parents paced the hallway, waiting for the latest news,
In the early hours of the next morning, the operation was finally completed and the two girls were successfully separated.
But it wasn't long before Annie started bleeding and was once again returned to the operating room.
Over the next two and a half months, the twins underwent another 20 surgeries, large and small,
When separated, each child has a silo bag on his body to store the organs in the abdomen.
(Schematic diagram of silo bag)
As a result, they must travel frequently between operating rooms to gradually close their abdomen and treat other complications.
"Sometimes I take one of the children to anesthesia, and when the child is about to wake up, I have to take the other child to the anesthesiologist. We were prepared for the difficulties after the separation surgery, but the situation was much worse than we thought. ”
Fortunately, the two little girls are very strong and recover quickly,
Before Christmas 2022, the hospital approved the family's discharge and return to their real home in Northern Ireland.
Today, the two girls are 14 months old, have passed their first birthday smoothly, and have also become more cute and naughty.
Although the separation surgery left each person with only one leg, both were very good at walking around the floor of the home, and the differences between personalities became more pronounced.
Issie chattered, a fake chatterbox,
Annie, on the other hand, prefers to do big things in a muffled voice, always silently hiding behind the TV living sofa.
Next, both children will receive an exclusive brace to act as a prosthetic limb to help stabilize their rapidly growing bodies.
And for years to come, children will continue to undergo surgery and make minor adjustments.
Due to the complexity of the girls' situation and the frequent travel to and from London for medical treatment, Hannah was unable to work and had to take care of her two children full-time.
Fortunately, with the help of fundraising, they already have enough money to cover the expenses of the trip.
Hannah and her husband never regretted their choice.
They enjoy every day with the "two naughties" and are always impressed by the strength and bravery of their two children:
"They're an absolute miracle, it's amazing."