Posted on 01/13/2003 11:57:07 AM PST by NYer
Guatemalan twins born joined at the skull were released from the hospital Monday to return to their homeland, five months after the girls were separated in a marathon surgery.
The 17-month-old twins were draped in pink and blue feathers and wore tiaras over their bandaged heads as they emerged from Mattel Children's Hospital at the University of California, Los Angeles.
The girls and their parents, Alba Leticia Alvarez, 23, and Wenceslao Quiej Lopez, 21, were to leave for a five-hour flight to Guatemala City aboard a Federal Express business jet.
"I am very grateful to all the staff," Lopez said. "I want to especially thank FedEx and people who are making our new house in Guatemala."
The toddlers, Maria Teresa Quiej Alvarez and Maria de Jesus, were separated Aug. 6 in a 23-hour surgery. At first, their return home was delayed to give them time to recover from follow-up surgeries. It was delayed again at the request of Guatemalan health authorities who needed more time to prepare for their arrival.
"This morning, the Guatemalan twins Maria Teresa and Maria de Jesus depart for home and a fresh start after approximately eight months at UCLA," said Dr. Gerald Levy, who added that the effort by doctors showed "the impossible is possible."
Once home, the two face additional surgeries to gradually stretch their scalps to eliminate the skin grafts and allow them to grow full heads of hair.
Oh, those funny media types. Clever headline.
Sounds to me like this was one hell of an expensive lesson that American taxpayers will wind up paying.
LOS ANGELES (January 13, 2003 2:30 p.m. EST) - Wearing princess tiaras over their bandages, twin girls born fused at the skull left the hospital for their native Guatemala on Monday, five months after they were surgically separated in a marathon operation.
Draped in pink and blue feathers, the 17-month-old sisters emerged in matching strollers from Mattel Children's Hospital at the University of California at Los Angeles. They and their parents, Alba Leticia Alvarez, 23, and Wenceslao Quiej Lopez, 21, left for Guatemala City aboard a Federal Express business jet.
"I am very grateful to all the staff," Lopez said before boarding the plane.
The father, who previously worked as a banana packer, earning the equivalent of just $64 a week, said he was especially grateful to a charitable group that has been building a new home for the family in their village in Guatemala.
The toddlers, Maria Teresa Quiej Alvarez and Maria de Jesus, were separated Aug. 6 in a 23-hour operation. Their return home was delayed to give them time to recover and allow Guatemalan health authorities to prepare for their arrival.
The cost of the surgery and medical care totaled $2 million, said UCLA spokesman Dan Page. Of that, $470,000 was defrayed by donations - mostly an anonymous $450,000 gift.
"We are happy to see them go, but it is sad for us because we are losing them," pediatric nurse Gayane Minanian.
In Guatemala, the girls will undergo physical and occupational therapy at a private hospital. The twins will also face years of follow-up operations, including scalp surgery to allow them to grow full heads of hair.
Maria Teresa, whom doctors recently fitted with a hearing aid, has lagged behind her sister in her development. Both girls have yet to walk or begin talking.
Dr. Henry Kawamoto, lead plastic surgeon for the twins' medical team, said he expects the girls to catch up.
"All pun intended, two heads are better than one," Kawamoto said.
Exerpt:
"We knew we would only be reimbursed through donations ... we have also gained a legacy of new knowledge that will benefit medical treatment and teaching far into the future," said Dr. Edward McCabe, physician-in-chief at the UCLA hospital.
Conjoined twins occur once in every 200,000 live births, but twins who are fused at the tops of their heads, known as craniopagus twins, make up only about 2 percent of those.
Cris Embleton, director of Healing the Children, the nonprofit group that arranged medical care for the twins, presented the hospital with two checks -- one for $20,652 comprised of individual donations as small as $1.25 and another for $450,000 from a single anonymous donor. The hospital also has its own donation fund.
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