Conjoined Twins: Hope & Faith | Documentary

Eighteen-year-old Laura Williams is the youngest woman in the world to give birth to

conjoined

twins

. I was so glad they had survived and were like the little dolls the world's youngest mother of

conjoined

twins

talked about. After her joy following the birth of her two daughters in December 2008, the nation held its breath as Great Ormond Street Hospital fought to save the lives of its newborn daughters. Hope and Faith, unfortunately the resolution is quite serious, they will not be alive without the support we give them. Giving you this is the story of a young couple who, against medical advice, refused to have their conjoined twins terminated.

There is a baby who is Hope and

hope

is touching Faith's space. I would give Laura a 20 chance of both babies surviving. I do not do it. I don't believe in having an abortion. I could never have one. This decision meant that her daughter's only

hope

for survival would lie in a complex and potentially fatal operation to separate them. The hospital has always told us that the outcome might not be good. one of them or even both may die during the period we are facing difficulties, what about you? Laura is on her way to see her babies for the first time since her birth three days ago.

She is recovering well after her cesarean section and has been discharged. early from the hospital and off to Great Ormond Street so I can see my little babies. I saw them and came back after the c-section and they brought them to me right before they took them and waited to create. Ormond Street to see them. I can't wait to see them so I went back to my private because she's trying to open it. I think she knocked before trying to open the other one because it's also very hot. It's all there. Well, there's no change since we last looked at noon, so it's pretty hard anyway because you just want to grab them and stuff, but obviously you can't.

For Laura, this is a difficult start to motherhood due to the twins' fragile condition. She is unable to hold them or bond with them through breastfeeding, however, she still needs to express milk into a bottle every three to four hours so she can give it to the twins through a tube. She extracts herself from time to time just before leaving the three foreigners. The sisters who have traveled from Wales can't wait to see their crazy new nieces, she's down, um, she's good, oh no she is, so I'm sure they're not going to knit sweaters for both of them with Hope and Faith, That's what they call Miracle. babies I think it's overwhelming, you don't know what to expect, you know you have a baby and everything is normal and this is not as normal as you would like it to be and we are trying to make it as normal as possible. simply beautiful foreigner Agostino Piero leads the specialist team at Great Ormond Street, he is one of the best pediatric surgeons in Europe and has completed eight successful separations previously.

Ideally, we tend to wait until he is a couple of months old. The Survivor could be that tall. like 80 percent, if this separation has to be done as an emergency, the survival rate is much lower, we are facing a difficult situation in the sense that we have to decide when it is most appropriate to try to separate and based on the clinical information . We think the right time is probably the middle of next week. Hope and Faith require challenging surgery to separate them. They share the same liver and intestines and are linked by major arteries and veins through the stomach, but most importantly, they have separate hearts. which, although scans suggest they are abnormal, still allow the possibility of a successful separation.

The babies are stable at the moment, but the situation is quite critical. They will not be alive without the support we are giving them. Laura and Allied stay at the hospital. across the street in case it is necessary to advance the surgery. I was pretty worried I think when I first saw the joints. I was thinking, you know, I might think it didn't look very good or something, but it doesn't bother me. I, you know, like little dolls, actually, it's just that the hands were so small that they couldn't believe it. You know, he did that too.

I told him before the operation. I told her everything is going to be okay and she kept telling me. No, it's not, I've always been positive with almost everything I've done in life, sometimes you keep saying well, everything is going to be fine and this and that and then it turns out that it's not going to be fine. I know you've been wrong several times before. You just know that I didn't want to get my hopes up with everything you said. I like to think about the negative things so that when the positive things happen, you know.

It makes me feel better, you know? I'm ready for anything that can happen today. If the worst happens, it doesn't affect me as hard. It's been four days since 18-year-old Laura Williams became the world's youngest mother to give. birth of conjoined twins Hope and Faith Laura now anxiously waits with her husband Alid to find out when doctors will attempt surgery to separate their twins in September 2008 the couple married at Shrewsbury registry office were already proud parents of a daughter 20 months Carly and Laura were six months pregnant with Faith and Hope and had already decided not to call it quits, we always planned to get married but never got around to it and suddenly in four weeks she planned the entire wedding so it was quite a surprise that We have, other than Young, you know, I prefer to be a young mother so that when I'm 30 and Carly, because I'm cold enough, I can't say oh, you're old because I won't be that old.

They are now keeping a bedside vigil in the Intensive Care Unit at Great Ormond Street Hospital, where the twins are receiving constant care in preparation for the planned surgery to separate them. Today is a very special day, it is the first time the couple has a chance. to help take care of your babies I think we're changing the baby's diapers oh look at them sit here yeah I have that part here you are this is yours thank you it's good to be involved it makes you feel part of their growth up and stuff because obviously we haven't been able to do a lot, like which part we use now, so we fold the diaper under the baby now I don't need to clean it.

Yes, it was a pleasant experience, although it would not be. Conjoined twins are very rare and are becoming rarer these days due to prenatal diagnosis that could detect them before birth. I was really involved since she was transferred from her local hospital in Shrewsbury to the Department of Fetal Medicine in Birmingham and looked after her. Then, from about 26 weeks until just before her delivery at 33 weeks, she had given Laura and her husband about a 20 chance that both babies would survive. They were both very clear from the beginning that they wanted to continue with the pregnancy. I don't want to have an abortion because I don't believe in having an abortion.

I could never have one, not even religiously. I have people who know that if they get pregnant they shouldn't kill their baby because at the end of the day it's not that little baby's fault, you know they shouldn't get pregnant in the beginning if they don't want it? Albert is more religious than me, obviously you wouldn't find out now that he was having conjoined twins, obviously you like that you pray from time to time just to hope that everything would be okay, so he really wasn't that religious, but you wouldn't. you were, you are Aled's parents.

Willem and Jillian live in Anglesey, North Wales, they are. following the development of her grandchildren 16 and 17 in the newspapers while waiting to visit them before their next operation beautiful, it's not too late, just grandchildren, it's okay, it must be difficult for Laura because you know that when the mother gives birth, she can hug To a baby. or not, you know everything is apart from The Joint, everything else is perfect, yes there is a gift from God, they are a miracle, just like their family, Aled and Laura have received support from people they have never met, these They are cards that we have received from Wow.

Wish everything is well, good wishes there and um or send your cards of support and stuff. See, this is one from overseas somewhere because this is a priority air post. Now here's one we received from Orlando as well. I mean, we weren't you. I know I'm expecting letters from someone, but you know it's good to know that there are people that you know are thinking about us and you know, following the story, it's a little hat, one with an h and one with a left, they didn't really say. Whose they were, they just sent a piece of paper that said: God bless you all.

Hope and Faith have had a bad night and Laura has been asked to report to the hospital later this afternoon for a meeting with Professor Piero. I don't know her. he didn't say something was wrong, obviously nothing important happened, otherwise they would have told you yes, and he really wanted to see us now yes, not at half past five, he says the problem we face is that they are not absorbing the broadcasts as much . As we wanted, we cannot leave them together for too long because there is a risk of further complications occurring while we wait for their afternoon meeting with Professor Piero aled and Laura spend more valuable time with the twins no, they are very close children yes yes in the arc , so what we're getting into the nasogastric tube looks like it's basically coming out.

Yes, an emergency planning meeting has been convened for all specialists involved in the Hope and Faith surgery. We are planning to perform the operation on Wednesday, but today. develop some sign of further obstruction of the inverters and fever here is Hope's aorta noting that the foreigner with serious complications the decision is made to advance the separation surgery first thing tomorrow morning, do we all agree as well Let's move on tomorrow, okay, thank you? Thank you all so much, stay late, come to this meeting and hopefully everything will be okay. Unfortunately, the tuition is quite serious because babies develop some sign that the intestine is blocked and, uh, a little bit of fever, a little bit of inflammation.

I think at best babies have a 50-50 chance of surviving. Professor Piero and Ed Kiley, the two main surgeons who will lead the operation, now have to inform parents. Okay, so we meet every day. Tomorrow to update you, um, there are some signs that the intestine is blocked, okay? I mentioned it to you this morning, but this lockdown has become a little more evident, yes, let's say right now, particularly with hope for everyone, it's almost impossible to tell now. based on the x-rays what is happening in the intestine because the anatomy is very confusing because two intestines can be joined and the plan is to try the separation tomorrow okay so you control everything a thousand times we have done this before yes, many times and we do everything we can for your babies, yes, yes, with all our paints, which is the best we can, yes, it's okay, we are facing a difficult situation.

Me, oh yes, quickly, okay, very much, okay, go ahead, the hospital always tells us like that. result that might not be good, you know, they always told us the worst because they didn't want us to know, you know, be part of it, be very positive about it in case the worst comes, today the first of December I was there for like 24 days. until Christmas, oh yeah, dad, um, they're having surgery tomorrow morning, tomorrow between a quarter past eight and half past eight, they're going into surgery and then hopefully we'll have two beautiful daughters and it's a little nervous, stressful , but we know that everyone will do their best, so that's all we can hope for.

I really don't think they'll die from this. I think they will come out fighting like they always have. It's the morning of the surgery to separate us. the conjoined twins hope and

faith

I'm tired aled and laura have arrived early to the intensive care unit they know that this could be the last time they see their two daughters alive we don't know how the babies will react if we manage to separate them if the circulation will be maintained or not obviously we hope so but they may survive but one of them or even both of them may die during Eurovision okay yeah I think now we've realized it's happening and you know we know everyone is We'll do the best we can, so that's all we can hope for.

Yes, yes, they will get over this baby. They have surpassed everything else. It's probably the most difficult operation we do. We have the greatest experience in Europe in the treatment of conjoined twins. That doesn't mean that the evolution will be easy or that the result will be successful, but we have to do it, we can't wait any longer, we can lose the babies, we will come down later, okay, thank you, thank you foreigner for the operation. To be successful, surgeons must divide the shared liver, which is the only organ in the body that can regenerate. They must find where the intestines join and divide them into equal parts and then cut and close all the arteries and veins that connect through the joint.

Only then will they be able to separate the Twins and find out if they can support their own individual circulation, we start dividing from the back and then continue the whole operation from one end so that when we approach the other end we know exactly where to go to the main one. The risk is bleeding during the operation and it can last many hours. Last May 10, 12 noon. Gwillum and Jillian rushedto travel to London to support Alid and Laura as they wait to see if their daughters will survive the separation. Father. We thank you for the medical delivery.

For Faith and Hope father we ask you to guide the surgeon's procedurehands and now we speak life to our grandchildren and all of that we speak life to their children now let's be life in my children amen amen thank you foreigner after four and a half hours the surgeons take a break to evaluate your findings before attempting the next. In the separation stage, the intestine is joined, we will give intestine to someone to one and something to the other, but the next step you have to do is probably the most difficult, which is to try to get through the liver and control the bleeding.

I don't know when we started to divide believing what we love, yes, they are ready after seven hours of intensive surgery, the moment of separation has finally come, thank you, this is the most critical moment for Hope and Faith, only now the team discover to. If they are able to maintain their own circulation, tonight Faith is taken to the operating room next door where Professor Piero begins to cover the cavity where she was attached to her sister. Now it is almost five o'clock and we have been waiting for eight hours for Hope and Faith and the father in the operation they feel tired and exhausted they just want it to be over, obviously with them, it's okay, it has been the most emotionally draining day of Our Lives I have ever imagined, yes, I think to some extent they are possibly holding it in. their emotions because they feel it is right Ally, I will leave it.

I feel like I will stay strong for Laura. Laura remains strong because of our leadership. Very good team. Yeah, you know, you know, they're going through this. You know, anything else. that comes up in your marriage in your life together, you know, this will be nothing compared to what you're looking for now abroad, okay, great, thank you very much, bye, I think everything will be fine, just be back in an hour. What about hope? She still can't figure it out yet, but she's fine too. Yes, they are both separated and fine. They are stabilized. It is not stabilized.

She's just closing them now and there's actually enough to close. Although yes, are you sure they are completely fine? That's what he just told me. One will arrive in an hour and he still hasn't heard from the other, but he says he must obviously be fine. Otherwise, they would have said something. beautiful little doors now it's just a struggle to get through the first two nights which is all she says they're really stable Faith hey I hope she's really stable right now hopeless you mean Faith she doesn't know yet , I think he said that Faith was appearing in it, yeah, the face, I mean, the face is very stable, yeah, but I hope we're not too sure yet, but obviously very, very soon, hope is the smallest .

I hope they can have some more problems. separated she is stable she is locking herself in and will be up in an hour laughter we have two beautiful little doors we have some news to tell me no, I can't put on a straight face sure he's fine she's coming in an hour yes, that's fine, brilliant news, The twins have been separated for only 20 minutes when Hope's condition deteriorates dramatically without her sister's support, surgeon Ed Kiley interrupts Professor Piero to give him the bad news, the team fights for another hour to maintain hope. alive but her lungs turn out to be too small to support her breathing, they keep her connected to a ventilator, the medical team must now ask permission from Aled and Laura to turn off her life support and our mother, yes, so she is not there, well um, oh, wait. minute with only six days Hope loses her Battle for Life I think I made the hardest decision of my life to tell them to stop resuscitating her there and just let her go in peace which more than anything was very difficult because she is my daughter in the Al end of the day and it was better that she be at peace.

I feel really bad because obviously we lost a son and I feel really bad for the family. It was a very challenging operation, in my opinion, it was one of the most challenging we have ever had. seen I know in my mind that we have done the most we could do for this baby the national media gathered outside are eager to find out the outcome of the twins' separation Stephen Cox The hospital's press officer now has to manage the way The death of hope is communicated to the outside world, so what we have to do is the standard has become aware of the fact that hope has died, um and that means that at 11 o'clock the world will know because I bet What they will say is on the first page, so the professor is very worried that people will misunderstand what is happening.

He is very interested in making sure there is accurate information. You know, there's always a couple of pieces of advice you can give people, for example. I know Professor Piero is actually very sad that the boy died, but I just have to remind him to say it because, um, in the heat of the moment, it's easy not to remember to say that it's important to remember because you're going out in alive, but remember it. Say sorry, I know because I'm sure I said yes, you did it, you did it very well, but it's awfully easy to say absolutely when you come out absolutely, I'll just come out and let them know you're coming out. in about a minute, yeah, okay, I'm just going to come out to let you know, okay, hello everyone, and he'll be outside, we're guessing it'll be about three or four minutes, remember a child has died and I would ask you to be respectful. in the questions you ask about that, I am very sorry that unfortunately Hope did not survive Hope Williams, one of the conjoined twins born last Wednesday, Williams lost her life last night at Greater Woman Street Hospital, a team of around 20 was needed here at Great Ormond Street for this very complicated surgeon the early separation simply did not happen, but he was forced to them because there was a bowel obstruction in the intestines that the two girls shared and they would have deteriorated quite quickly in the operation performed in Hope. and Faith was one of the most challenging and complex we have ever faced.

You can't go anywhere without someone following you or asking you a question or you can even walk out to the main entrance of the hospital because they were there. of comments are not in the website email on Sunday, like pool, it's our fault, we've been through all this pain, you know, at the end of the day, you know we're a normal family, they want to see our daughter. okay, yeah, they were saying no, oh, what about the medical staff who have to know what about the taxpayers who have to pay for all these operations and stuff and all that and I thought to myself, well, And if it happened to them, what would they do? do it then with the now missing hope Allied and Laura focus all their attention on sister Faith's fight for survival it has been 24 hours since Hope died after surgery to separate her Faith is recovering in the Intensive Care Unit in a condition stable but critical the problems we have what we are having is that the kidneys are not working it is a concern because if your kidneys are not working properly then they are not filtering the blood properly which means potassium builds up and that is a problem because too much potassium her heart stops it's not just her kidney problems she now has to overcome the open cavity where she was previously attached her sister has to be closed Andy Petros is in charge of Faith's care while she remains critical in the Intensive Care Unit because Fades is young it's still growing so to speak so you can stretch the skin relatively easily so what they've done is put a plastic bag if you want a silo that covers the intestines and stops any infection and if you squeeze the bag and put Pressure just squeezing it stretches the skin so that's what's happening and it takes a couple of weeks.

The last week has been very emotional on both sides, or my side and hers, but obviously I have to keep mine a little bit because if I laugh, she will laugh with you, so it's a matter of you knowing that you try to stay strong for both of them and, obviously, for the little girl too, so she actually opened her eyes. Hello, but it's a relief for what just happened. It really surprises me because for a little body to go through all that and come out of it fighting, you know, I mean how he likes this, you know, his body is reacting to, you know, sounds and stuff too if I put it on.

This now, look at your face, look, she likes it well, Aled concentrates his time on supporting Faith, his father, Guillem, is worried because neither he nor Laura have been able to mourn Hope's death. You look at Faith and see the situation, the physical situation in which she finds herself. find you know, with all these wires and tubes and it makes me want to burst into tears, you know, I have to stay strong for the foreigners, the retention part I'm most worried about, you'll both have to do it. get all the release, while at some point later and said, you know, let's flip this switch and let's rest, release all this pressure, you know the death of a child is unique to each parent and is beyond a natural nation I really don't think it's anything in particular.

The father has a typecast reaction, um something, and the grieving process can take years or a lifetime, people sometimes can never get over it, that's the birth and death certificate, yeah, from Hope, this is obviously the certificate Hope's birth certificate and then there's the death certificate. I'm having a lot of feelings again and stuff because obviously you know it hits you again that she knows she's gone yeah I did feel Williams we put it like that so now

faith

is in hope forever this year. Me and I decided not to do it. to have a Christmas, obviously, as you can see, we have the tree you know, just to make it feel a little more Christmassy.

The tree decoration is theoretically a little angel teddy bear with an h, which, um, our lady and I went and I bought one for Hope and one for Face when they were having their breakup and we thought we'd put Hopes on top of the tree just to remember to put an angel on the tree Seven days have passed since the separation and the process of stretching Faith's skin. on her stomach has been put on hold until her condition improves, we are keeping ourselves comfortable with lots of painkillers, so she is not in any pain, she is not conscious and she is not in distress, so it is a very fine balance between having to try and go ahead. and tidy up the abdomen, yes, at the same time that it makes the rest of your body work and of course, babies themselves do what they classically do what is called third space, so they put water, not in their blood vessels , but in the tissues under the Skin and in the third space if you will, so that they end up exploding like a Michelin man almost, so we are waiting for that liquid to disappear at any moment because she is, you know, seriously ill, nobody can you tell how long.

We will be here because no one really knows. You know, it just depends on that little girl who's fighting for a life right now and we'll be here until she's ready to go home, basically, yeah, hopefully in a couple of months. Yes, and we know she won't actually be before that. No, we wanted to get better and we wanted to have a normal life, you know, and as normal as life can be. Yeah, you know, go to college and do something. of the life that you know and you have a family of your own and you know all these things that you know a normal child should have for the next few days.

Faith's condition gradually deteriorates with increasing kidney and circulatory problems. She walks a very fine tightrope every time. We try and do things for her, we give her a strong antibiotic, we try to close her chest, we make her better, things come along that throw her off her path, that's why she's a woman, which is great, at a time when men become critical again, there is nothing parents can do. just sit and wait, it's hard because you don't know what's going to happen, your hands are tied, you don't sit there and you sit there all day thinking, well, you know, because it obviously drives you crazy, you know, and then you even worry. more so, you keep yourself busy, you know, doors.

Allen and Laura received a call from the hospital's intensive care team to tell them that Faith is being rushed in for emergency heart surgery. It's like going back to the beginning. You've taken two steps forward and ten steps back, you don't know what to do for the better and it's a little worrying and we don't know if she'll come out this alive or not. Alexa, the good faith that she has. a congenital heart problem that the team always knew she would need corrective surgery at this time her heart is pumping too much blood to her lungs and flooding them.

We are facing the problem with faith. You know she's not making much progress right now in intensive care. I need to do something, the intensivist, the cardiac surgeon, and I and all the other surgeons involved felt that it was necessary to do something in the heart to improve circulation. There are many things right now that are not going according to plan and we are obviously concerned about our general conditions, I don't know what it is, but I always have the feeling that something can be known, when something is going to go wrong, when something is going to be right, you said thatI hope, no, I couldn't say that.

It's kind of right for her sister, right? So she's still here, so she was running away when I think there's something inside me that says don't worry, everything's going to be okay, the procedure for Faith's abnormal heart implies. Place a nylon band around the archery major in his lungs, which will help reduce the amount of blood flowing into them if he overcomes this. I emphasize that he will have another two, three operations on his heart and in addition you will need more surgery abdominal, so you are at the beginning of a long road after three hours in the operating room.

Faith is taken back to the Intensive Care Unit. check on Faith's condition while Laura stays in the waiting room, which makes for more people, she's also had more blood in the operating room and more products, you have to look on the bright side of things, which I always do, You know, she's come this far. I'm not going to stop it, I don't know how I know, it's just strange, something inside me just tells me she'll be okay and you get on with it, that's what I do on Christmas morning abroad, almost a month to the day since she was born Faith's body finally stops enjoying the twin Faith Williams died in hospital almost four weeks after an operation to separate her.

Surgeons warned Faith's parents that her chances of survival were not good, but they had hoped and prayed that she would beat the odds. but she had been too unwell since the operation to be separated from her. Thank you, we knew it was going to be pretty difficult if they survived, but we were prepared to do everything we could and if it meant taking care of them for the rest of time. their lives so that's what we would have done instead of breaking up, it brings us closer, you know, because we've been through so much in a short space of time that we could probably take anything that was thrown at us that we have.

There have been people who have approached us and told us that you know we have been very brave. Yeah, you know we're filming Curry's. We are an inspiration for young people to like them. Yes, you know that most young people should follow us. everything we did was what we thought was right at least I gave them a chance