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Its the First Day of School For These Conjoined Twins
| By David Clarke
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With summer ending and fall beginning, back to school is on the mind of everyone. But this time of year is perhaps bigger for no one than it is for students going to their first ever day of school. And while there are millions and million of first-time school goers, there are two little girls in England who are extremely lucky and grateful to be going to school.
Ruby and Rosie Formosa are a pair of four-year-old twins who begin school for the first time this fall. But not only are they twins, they were born as conjoined twins. Attached at birth at the abdomen, the two little girls shared an intestine. But the only real chance at long-term survival was the risky emergency surgery of conjoined twin separation, which only offers a 25% chance of survival.
But thankfully, the surgery was a success! The girls are now healthy four-year-old girls who are about to enter their formal education and have the world at their fingertips. The fact that they are alive, let alone thriving and healthy, is a true miracle.
And while things are great now and the little girls are looking forward to school, things weren’t always so great. Their mother, Angela Formosa, was told 16 weeks into her pregnancy that she would be giving birth to conjoined twins, a rare occurrence that occurs about once in every 200,000 births. Immediately, the soon to be mother became very scared and even a little upset as she knew there was a chance the girls wouldn’t survive the pregnancy and if they did, they may not survive birth or the emergency surgery.
But thanks to the amazing staff at London’s Great Ormond Street Hospital (GOSH), they not only survived, but are doing amazing, something which the family is grateful, and a little bit surprised about. The family didn’t think four years ago that they would be seeing their little girls going to school. In fact, they didn’t even prepare their house for twins, as they knew the very slim chances that they would both make it. But low and behold, the amazing doctors and nurses at GOSH gave them amazing treatment that allowed them to thrive.
And not only are Ruby, Rosie, and their family very excited about their big first day of school but so are the doctors and nurses who treated them at the hospital. A pediatric surgeon at GOSH, Paolo De Coppi said that “It’s always a joy to witness patients’ progress and to hear they are reaching new milestones”. Safe to say that his testaments are similar to the other medical professionals in the building, as things like this, make their job all the more rewarding.
It is simply amazing that two little girls with only a 25% chance of surviving a few short years ago are now dressed up in their school uniforms and ready to go to their first day of school.
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