Conjoined Twins From Mooresville Doing Well After Separation Surgery

MOORESVILLE, NC -- Abby and Erin Delaney, perhaps Mooresville’s most famous set of twins, will soon be coming home. The now 16-month-old baby girls were born prematurely in 2016, conjoined at the top of their head. Four months ago the pair were successfully separated thanks to a team of 30 medical professionals at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP) who embarked on groundbreaking surgery that took more than 11 hours to complete.

“This is one of the earliest separations of craniopagus conjoined twins ever recorded,” said reconstructive surgeon Dr. Jesse Taylor, who co-led the medical team, in a statement. “We know that children heal better and faster the younger they are, therefore our goal for Erin and Abby was separation as soon as possible with minimum number of surgeries.”

Plans for the medical feat were put in motion before the the babies were born when parents Heather and Riley Delaney of Mooresville discovered in a prenatal ultrasound that the twins were conjoined. Conjoined twins are rare, occurring once every 50,000 to 60,000 births. The way in which the two were connected was the least common occurrence, according to CHOP, affecting fewer than 2 percent of cases.

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After the babies were born July 24, 2016 by a C-section at the Philadelphia hospital, a surgical plan was put in place. When they were about three months old, surgeons cut cut skull bone and inserted a device that would slowly push them apart at a rate of one or two millimeters a day.

“Similar procedures had been used successfully in other types of reconstructive surgery, but this was a new technique in the separation of conjoined twins,” CHOP said of the procedure. Then, there were surgeries to insert fluid-filled expanders that would stretch their skin to help cover the gap on their head once they were separated.

The infants were surgically separated June 6, 2017, as the surgical team removed the skin expanders, separated the blood flow and a small amount of brain tissue, and stitched skin over the gap. Missing bone at the top of their heads means more plastic and reconstructive surgeries await the pair in the next few years, the hospital said.

But the next step for the girls who have spent most all of their lives in the Philadelphia hospital is to come home. A GoFundMe campaign has collected more than $27,000 to help the Delaney’s with medical expenses from more than year of hospitalization, which they documented in a blog.

“Although this has been a long journey, with many ups and downs, Riley and I are thrilled to see how well the girls are doing today,” said their mother, Heather. “We are so grateful for the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia team, and for the support and encouragement that our families, our friends and the community have given us during this long journey.”

Watch this video about a year in the life of Abbey and Erin Delaney:

Main image via GoFundMe