Twins’ separation surgery to happen within weeks

THE mother of Ireland’s youngest conjoined twins has asked the nation to pray for them as they face major surgery within weeks to separate them.

Angie Benhaffaf cradled her 15-week-old “little fighters”, Hassan and Hussein, in her arms and wept as she revealed April 7 as the date of the operation.

“It will be our little fighters’ biggest battle and we would ask everyone to keep them in their thoughts and prayers,” she said.

She was speaking at a special naming ceremony for the boys on Saturday at Go Safari in Carrigtwohill, near their home in east Cork.

The private ceremony was attended by close family and friends, and by Foreign Affairs Minister Micheál Martin, who has been supporting the family in the background from day one.

The twins’ sisters, Iman, two, and Malika, five, chatted excitedly with friends and cousins around one table heaving with cakes, sandwiches and jellies.

But the room fell silent as their parents, Angie and Azzedine, prepared to make their announcement.

Azzedine placed his right arm over Angie’s shoulders. Her voice cracked with emotion: “We’d like to say thanks to everyone for coming. It’s been an amazing journey since we came out publicly with the twins. We’ve met some wonderful people along the way. The whole country has given us support that has totally overwhelmed us.

“Today is their naming day, which is a special day for us, because we never thought that we’d get to this stage.

“So because we have had such phenomenal support from the country we have decided to share with the nation the date of the twins’ surgery. It will come as a shock to people that it has come upon us so fast. But as difficult as it is to say, we have been given the date, April 7 for the boys’ separation. We would ask everyone to keep them in their thoughts and prayers on that very special day. Just keep them in your prayers – do what you’ve been doing.”

Hassan and Hussein were born six weeks prematurely on December 2 last at University College Hospital London. They are joined at the chest, do not share any vital organs, and were never expected to survive.

But they have stunned doctors and have been thriving. They weigh a combined total of some 17lb now.

The family is due to leave for Great Ormond Street Hospital (GOSH) in London next weekend to prepare for the surgery.

GOSH is the most experienced centre in Europe for the management and the separation of conjoined twins.

The medical team will be led by consultant paediatric surgeon, Mr Edward Kiely, one of the world’s top experts in the separation of conjoined twins.

Mr Kiely has declined to comment on Hassan and Hussein’s case.

But he said the prospects for conjoined twins vary widely depending on their general state of health – how they are joined and what organs are shared.

The survival rate for planned separation – as is the case with Hassan and Hussein – where the children are stable and where separation can be undertaken at a suitable time is about 80%.

“Under these circumstances both usually survive and have a good quality of life,” he said.

Mr Kiely has been managing conjoined twins cases at GOSH since the 1980s.

As of June 2009, the hospital team has dealt with 21 separations – 18 on site and three elsewhere.

The team has also dealt with nine inoperable cases where the babies are generally joined at the brain or heart.