It truly is special to come across a miracle every now and then in our world, where magic is constrained by the laws of reality. They can appear when all hope seems lost, showing us that nothing in life is set in stone and that anything can happen.
Abby and Erin Delaney, who were born in 2016 and joined at the head, are siamese twin sisters, and that was unquestionably the case.
Doctors had given them a five to twenty five percent chance of surviving, but a great deal of good fortune and cutting edge medical technology came together to produce a true miracle.
And it’s impossible not to smile when you see these adorable children six years after that risky procedure.
It was a significant event for Heather Delaney and Riley when they learned they were expecting a child. The couple imagined a happy future for their small family after first meeting when they were just kids.
When Heather learned she was expecting twins, her devoted husband helped her get ready for the arrival of twins and everything that entails.
Unfortunately, Heather had a difficult pregnancy that was made even more challenging by the discovery that the heads of her children were joined.
The soon-to-be parents froze when they learned the news from the doctors.
Heather said to People, “We were stunned. “It was awful,” she continued. But we already knew at that point that we would carry the pregnancy to term. I simply didn’t feel that it was within my purview to decide whether they lived or died. ”.
Conjoined twins are more common than most people realize, which may come as a shock to some.
Conjoined twins are born to every 200 pregnancies and every 49,000–189,000 identical twin births. They may seem like large numbers, but given the number of babies born every day around the world, they are actually more common than we might think.
In terms of conjoined babies, the mortality rate is really unusual. Sadly, only 18% of conjoined babies survive to birth; the majority of these pregnancies typically result in miscarriage.
Heather and her husband nevertheless clung to hope. And on July 24, 2016, Abby and Erin, who weighed just 2 lbs, were successfully delivered via C-section, demonstrating the validity of their faith.
The newborns underwent the life-saving separation operation while they were in the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia for the first 485 days of their lives. Almost all conjoined twins have undergone separation since the 1950s, with varying degrees of success.
Being joined at the top of their heads, Abby and Erin were craniopagus twins, making separation much more difficult.
When Abby and Erin were about to be split up during a lengthy and difficult surgery, they faced a formidable challenge.
30 medical personnel were involved in the procedure in June 2017 and it lasted more than 11 hours. But in the end, the tenacious group of medical professionals were able to declare victory.
The procedure went well overall, but there are a few minor issues to take into account, including the fact that Abby’s sinuses will be missing some of their components. The girls, however, have proven to be true fighters when it comes to overcoming obstacles, and their recovery from the split has been astounding.
Indeed, the operation’s lead surgeons recently had a paper published in the esteemed New England Journal of Medicine as a result of its outstanding success. The team received praise for their innovative methods for rearranging the girls’ tissue and skulls prior to surgery as well.
This ground-breaking new method improved and made surgery safer. According to the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, it allowed the team to separate the twins earlier in life, which facilitated the girls’ recovery.
The twins lived a normal life a year and a half after the risky operation, and their parents couldn’t be happier with their daughters.
The girls’ future surgery needs were something the family was always prepared for. As they grew older, the twins had additional plastic surgery as well as a skull reconstruction. Hospital visits, appointments, and planning have all been very frequent over the past year.
The girls underwent a complicated procedure in July 2021 to reshape and repair their skulls. According to their mother, Erin’s recovery has been harder than Abby’s, who has since recovered beautifully.
In addition to having a blog where Heather updates readers on the girls’ progress, you can also follow The Delaney Twins on Facebook.
Their journey through life has its ups and downs and is truly fascinating. The family suffered a great loss when mother Heather revealed in September of last year that both girls had autism.
“There is such a stigma surrounding people with autism, and I’m afraid for the future of the girls because of it. Being autistic on top of everything else they already have to deal with is difficult. When I got that call, I sobbed a lot. The diagnoses should just stop, please. I’m aware that nothing is altered by it. I am confident that the girls are still who they are and that our love for them is just as great as it ever was. It is, however, demoralizing to receive yet another diagnosis, Heather wrote.
Heather recently wrote on her blog that Erin is “walking upstairs, running around, and getting stronger every day” and that Abby is “getting closer to walking every day”.
My heart is completely filled when I look at these adorable girls, who will turn six this year. The twins, who are incredibly unique and gorgeous, also have the best parents in the world on their side.
“We are so proud of the girls, their progress, and where they are headed. We love our girls for who they are and have never once wished for anything to be different, Heather says.
