Conjoined twins who beat the odds set for first term
CONJOINED twins who had a slim chance of survival are now preparing to go to school for the first time.
Rosie and Ruby Formosa, who were born joined at the abdomen and shared part of the intestine, needed surgery to separate them when they were born in 2012.
Their parents, Angela and Daniel, were told the girls had a low chance of survival when medics discovered they were conjoined.
But after a successful separation operation at Great Ormond Street Hospital, London, the identical twins lead happy and healthy lives and are preparing to start school next month.
The four-year-olds, from Bexleyheath, Kent, are “very excited” to be starting school like their nineyear-old sister Lily, said Mrs Formosa.
“Four years ago it wasn’t in my mind that this would ever happen,” she said.
“When I was pregnant I didn’t think I’d ever see their first day at school so it is really amazing and all thanks to Great Ormond Street Hospital, really.”
Mrs Formosa said it was “heartbreaking” when she discovered the girls had the rare medical condition – it accounts for one in every 200,000 live births.
“At 16 weeks they sent me to King’s College Hospital and it was there they discovered the connection between the girls,” she said.
“It was heartbreaking – I was already worried they were monoamniotic (where twins share an amniotic sac), and conjoined was the worstcase scenario.
“I was really scared and upset because at that point I was told there was a high possibility the girls would not survive the pregnancy. And if they did survive the pregnancy, they might not survive the birth, then they might not survive surgery. They couldn’t tell what was connecting them.
“I didn’t prepare to bring them home. It wasn’t until they were in hospital and they had had their operation my husband started painting the bedroom.”
The girls were born at University College Hospital, London by caesarean section when Mrs Formosa was 34 weeks pregnant.
Within a couple of hours of being born, they were taken to Great Ormond Street Hospital for emergency surgery because of an intestinal blockage.