Doctors successfully separate conjoined twins after more than 16 hours of surgery
After 16.5 hours of surgery, 13-month-old twin boys born conjoined at the head have been successfully separated. The surgery was completed Friday morning in New York at the Children's Hospital at Montefiore Medical Center in the Bronx, only the 59th time this sort of operation has been attempted since 1952.
After the more than 16-hour-long separation procedure, both Jadon and Anias McDonald underwent "several hours more of surgery to reconstruct their skulls," CNN reported. In total, the surgeon, Dr. James Goodrich, operated on the twins for about 27 hours.
The surgery was exceedingly risky, as the twins were born with "shared blood vessels and brain tissue, a very rare condition that occurs once in about 10 million births," BBC reported. While the boys' parents are celebrating the surgery's success, they remain anxious about what complications may arise. "I should feel so happy…TWO SEPARATE BABIES!!!…and yet I ache with the uncertainty of the future," the boys' mother, Nicole McDonald, wrote on Facebook. "I didn't cry until the surgeons left the room. I was barely able to even utter the words 'thank you' because of the pit that still sits heavy in my stomach."
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
The twins will likely remain incubated for the next week.
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
-
Political cartoons for October 27Cartoons Monday's political cartoons include improving national monuments, the NBA gambling scandal, and the AI energy vampire
-
Donald Trump’s week in Asia: can he shift power away from China?Today's Big Question US president’s whirlwind week of diplomacy aims to bolster economic ties and de-escalate trade war with China
-
The Icelandic women’s strike 50 years onIn The Spotlight The nation is ‘still no paradise’ for women, say campaigners
-
Proposed Trump-Putin talks in Budapest on holdSpeed Read Trump apparently has no concrete plans to meet with Putin for Ukraine peace talks
-
Bolivia elects centrist over far-right presidential rivalSpeed Read Relative political unknown Rodrigo Paz, a centrist senator, was elected president
-
Madagascar president in hiding, refuses to resignSpeed Read Andry Rajoelina fled the country amid Gen Z protests and unrest
-
Sanae Takaichi: Japan’s Iron Lady set to be the country’s first woman prime ministerIn the Spotlight Takaichi is a member of Japan’s conservative, nationalist Liberal Democratic Party
-
Israel, Hamas agree to first step of Trump peace planSpeed Read Israel’s military pulls back in Gaza amid prisoner exchange
-
Israel intercepts 2nd Gaza aid flotilla in a weekSpeed Read The Israeli military intercepted a flotilla of nine boats with 145 activists aboard along with medical and food aid
-
Japan poised to get first woman prime ministerSpeed Read The ruling Liberal Democratic Party elected former Economic Security Minister Sanae Takaichi
-
Israel and Hamas meet on hostages, Trump’s planSpeed Read Hamas accepted the general terms of Trump’s 20-point plan, including the release of all remaining hostages