KUALA LUMPUR, March 21 — It was nothing short of a miracle for the Taiping mother of premature conjoined twins when her 17-day-old babies were successfully separated.
The 29-year-old mother, Deborah Anne Vince, told Malay Mail that all she could do was to keep her hopes high for a miracle to happen.
Thanks to a strong medical team of over 30 doctors and nurses at the Tunku Azizah Hospital (HTA) in Kuala Lumpur, the miracle happened when the doctors successfully performed a surgery on the conjoined twins weighing 2.7kg on Saturday.
The twins, Daelan Hope Marshall and Daevyn Hope Marshall were separated in a 66-minute surgery led by paediatric surgery consultant specialist Datuk Dr Zakaria Zahari.
The entire procedure, including preparation and wrap up, took 10 hours.
Deborah said she was hoping that God would save her children and because of that she named both boys “Hope”.
It was 20 weeks into her pregnancy when Deborah went for her regular ultrasound and was informed by her doctor that something wasn’t right.
“But the doctor wasn’t too sure as at one angle it looked like the babies were conjoined and at another angle, it looked fine.”
Despite the uncertainty, Deborah said she was certain that she would accept her babies as they were.
“It didn’t make me feel upset as I believe God always wants the best for me so I just waited to see what God had planned.
“I was just hoping for the best.”
Deborah said she was on her way to Hospital Raja Permaisuri Bainun (HRPB) in Ipoh on March 2 to do another scan 33 weeks into her pregnancy but felt a terrible contraction pain when she reached the hospital.
“The pain got intense at the hospital and I had to undergo an emergency surgery to give birth to the twins.
“It was then confirmed that the babies were joined at their chest including the liver.”
Deborah said the babies were then kept at HRPB’s neonatal intensive care unit for about two weeks before the hospital made arrangements to send them to HTA for the surgery which took place on Saturday.
The historic surgery on the conjoined twins involved a team of 12 surgeons and about 20 nurses at HTA.
“Before the operation, Dr Zakaria had a chat with my husband and me to inform us about the high risks of the surgery due to the age of my children,” said Deborah.
“We were told that we may lose one or both of them but I kept my hopes high and thank God both babies are in stable condition now.”
Deborah, who is a clinic assistant in Taiping, said the twins will be in hospital for the next two to three months until their condition is more stable.
She also acknowledged the hard work of Dr Zakaria and his team for the successful historic surgery.
“The operation wouldn’t have gone well without them.
“I would like to thank Dr Zakaria and his team for bringing my kids alive out of the operation theatre.”
