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A story of Simon Stephenson and his fiancée Yane Christensen - and of their twins, Mille and Signe:
Happy smiling seven-year-olds: The twin sisters who can
now live separate lives despite being born conjoined at the spine
Happy smiling seven-year-olds: The twin sisters who can
now live separate lives despite being born conjoined at the spine
The first weeks, and surgeryThey play side by side, walk hand in hand to school and love dressing-up games the picture of happiness at seven years old. Yet these twin girls were born conjoined bonded at the spine with a question-mark over whether they could survive.
Thanks to British medical expertise, Mille and Signe (pronounced Milla and Seena) have gone from strength to strength after surgery to separate them at the age of three months.
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StandingFor the first weeks after their caesarean birth, Mille and Signe shared everything, even a nappy. When one cried, both got a cuddle. When one slept, both had to lie in a single cot.
Yane fed both together on her lap. Then, after an eight-hour operation at Great Ormond Street Hospital only the second of its kind to be performed in this country the new parents were able to hold one twin each.
We found ourselves sitting as far apart as we could, Simon told me. Im sure it was a subconscious way of showing off to ourselves that we could do that.
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Credit where it's dueInitially, each girls back remained significantly curved, arching in the direction their spines were fused.
They curled up like bananas, said Simon, a 40-year-old art director for an advertising agency.
It was so pronounced, we couldnt fit them into a child seat in the car. But one night we were sitting watching TV when one of them suddenly stood up. Thirty seconds later, the other one did the same.
'From then on, the spine problem disappeared.
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Here they are; more pics and much more of the article at Daily Mail link above.As Simon put it: You realise how good the NHS is when you have a really serious problem. I dont believe we could have been seen by better people.
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