Conjoined twins separated in India: Baby girls had been abandoned by their parents
Filed under: Advice And Health
Barcroft
Aradhana and Stuti Yadav, 11-month-old girls with fused livers and two hearts joined by a common membrane, had been dumped in a hospital hours after birth.
Barcroft
A specialist team of 23 doctors and 11 nurses from India and Australia took part in the operation, which was paid for by public donations after the girls' plight was featured on national TV.
The outpouring of generosity, with thousands of small donations by members of the public, is unusual in India where girls are often not valued in rural communities and disabled babies are often abandoned.
Public generosity was matched by a £22,000 fund from the Madhya Pradesh state government.
Barcroft
The girls have been cared for by hospital staff since their birth, with three nurses taking shifts to act as surrogate mothers. Surgeons at the under-equipped Paddar Hospital spent months appealing for international help and preparing for an operation.
Barcroft
Born into a poor family in the small town of Betul, the girls' father is said to be a farmer with a smallholding of land. Hospital staff tracked the family down and agreed to look after the children if the parents developed a relationship with the girls.
"They are very poor and even the delivery had been done under a government scheme for healthy deliveries. After the babies were born it was clear they would not have been able to provide medical attention needed for them. So, the hospital decided to look after them in the near future till it became clear that surgery would be possible," said a spokesman.
Barcroft
Hospital authorities said they were pleased the parents wanted to take their girls home after surgery, describing it as the best possible outcome.
"We are happy that they will finally get to be a family and both the girls will get a proper home," said Vikas Sonwani, assistant administrator of Paddar Hospital.
The parents, Hari Ram Yadav and Maya Yadav, are both believed to be in the late twenties and already have a six-year-old son. They were not available for comment.
The day long operation to separate Aradhana and Stuti began at 8am on June 20.
"They had separate hearts and livers but the problem was both the hearts were in single sac," said Mr Sonwani.
"All the organs in our body are covered with a dedicated sac. In case of the heart, its called pericardium. But in these babies, there was only one common pericardium. Similarly they had separate but fused livers," he added.
Barcroft
During the operation a team of surgeons separated the girls' hearts and transplanted the organs into each chest cavity. They then separated their livers.
Both the twins have been kept on ventilators and they will be under close medical observation for about 48 hours.
Doctors are optimistic both girls will make a full recovery.
Check out these wonderful pictures of previously conjoined twins seeing each other's faces for the first time:
Twincredible tales
- My twin sister is a dwarf<p> Sienna and Sierra Bernal are <a href="http://www.parentdish.co.uk/2012/02/08/my-twin-sister-is-a-dwarf-sienna-and-sierra-bernal/ " target="_blank">identical twins</a>, but Sienna is half the size of her twin sister Sierra, as she has primordial dwarfism. The 13-year-old girls share the same coloured hair and physical traits, but tiny Sienna weighs half her sister's weight, and stands four feet tall to Sierra's 5ft 1in. Sienna is the only primordial dwarf in the world to have an average sized twin.</p>
- Oldest living twins<p> Great-great <a href="http://www.parentdish.co.uk/category/grandparents/" target="_blank">grannies</a> Edith Ritchie and Evelyn 'Evie' Middleton were named the world's oldest living twins at a staggering 102 years old this year. The pair, who have an incredible 37 great-grandchildren between them, were born in Aberdeenshire in 1909. The women remained close all their lives and now live together in a care home in Ellon, Scotland.</p>
- Identical twins have babies on same day in the same hospital<p> Identical twins Jennifer and Jessica Patterson hit the headlines when they both gave birth on the <a href="http://www.parentdish.co.uk/2011/10/24/identical-twins-have-babies-on-the-same-day-in-same-hospital/" target="_blank">same day, in the same hospital</a> over in the States! Jessica actually went into labour first, but then Jennifer raced ahead and gave birth to her daughter, Adalynn Rose first. A few hours later, her sister Jessica delivered her son, Mason.</p>
- Twins escape cot<p> Troublesome twins Layn and Dayn made a bid for freedom in this adorable <a href="http://www.parentdish.co.uk/kids/the-great-escape-toddler-escapes-cot-with-twin-as-look-out-then-destroys-evidence/" target="_blank">YouTube video</a>. The pair decided Layn was the look out, and he kept watch while adventurous brother Dayn clambered out of his cot, and then destroyed the evidence by turning the camera off! Talk about double trouble…</p>
- Twins born five years apart<p> <a href="http://www.parentdish.co.uk/2012/01/05/twins-born-five-years-apart/" target="_blank">Reuben and Floren Blake</a> were conceived from the same batch of five embryos. Two were implanted in the twin's mum, Jody Blake, 38, which resulted in the birth of Reuben in 2006. The remaining three embryos were frozen until Jody and her husband Simon decided to try for another child. Floren then arrived on November 16 2011 - two weeks before her due date - but five years after her twin brother!</p>
- Twins born two years apart on the same day<p> Both Lexi and Rudridh Dalgleish were conceived at the same time and were born on December 27. But their mum Hazel gave birth to them <a href="http://www.parentdish.co.uk/2011/12/27/happy-birthday-to-the-twins-lexi-and-rudridh-dalgliesh-born-two-years-apart-on-the-same-day/" target="_blank">exactly two years apart</a> - after the embryo that became Rudridh was frozen by fertility experts for two years, following IVF treatment. Just to give their story an extra twist, the twins’ grandmother, Joyce also shares the same birthday! Now that’s a party…</p>
- Twin copies brother to recover from brain damage<p> Four-year-old Finn was diagnosed with a tumour the size of a golf ball when he was a baby. But by <a href="http://www.parentdish.co.uk/2012/01/25/twin-finn-amazes-doctors-by-copying-brother-to-recover-from-braiin-damage/ " target="_blank">copying</a> the movements of his twin brother, Kian, he’s amazed doctors by making a remarkable recovery from mental and physical problems, and despite all his early injuries, Finn is now said to be developmentally equal to Kian in every area!</p>
- Twins after nine IVF cycles<p> After spending £70,000 on nine cycles of IVF, and clocking up 16,000 miles in a bid to be parents, Rachael and Mark Sadler are now proud mum and dad to twins <a href="http://www.parentdish.co.uk/2011/08/10/twins-after-nine-years-70-000-on-fertility-treatment-and-travelling-16000-miles/" target="_blank">Rebecca and Hazel</a>. “I never accepted that I wouldn't be a mother. I was determined to do anything I could to have a baby,” says Rachael. “And now I finally have my beautiful daughters, I feel complete. It has been worth all the heartache to have them with us after everything we have been through.'</p>
- Cute twin talk<p> These adorable brothers became internet stars when their mum filmed them <a href="http://www.parentdish.co.uk/2011/03/31/funny-baby-video-twins-nattering-in-the-kitchen/" target="_blank">nattering away</a> in their very own special way. They then went on to have more <a href="http://www.parentdish.co.uk/2011/04/03/twin-boys-carry-on-the-chat-and-practise-headstands/" target="_blank">kitchen-based banter,</a> and then appeared in their own <a href="http://www.parentdish.co.uk/2011/11/26/video-twins-giggling-in-the-tub-bath-together-funny/" target="_blank">tub time</a> video. The pair proved so popular that their mum started her own blog, <a href="http://www.twinmamarama.com/" target="_blank">Twinmamarama</a> to keep fans updated with her boys’ development!</p>
- Conjoined twins see each other for the first time<p> The incredible moment conjoined twins Joshua and Jacob Spates saw each other for the first time was captured on camera following their successful separation in America. They were conjoined at the base of their spines and gastrointestinal tract, and had to be separated because of the severity of Jacob's heart condition. See more <a href="http://www.parentdish.co.uk/2011/09/15/the-look-of-love-conjoined-twins-joshua-and-jacob-spates-see-each-other-first-time/" target="_blank">incredible pictures of the twins in our gallery.</a></p>
- Woman with two wombs beats odds of five million to one to give birth to twins<p> <a href="http://www.parentdish.co.uk/baby/twins-no-need-to-apologise/" target="_blank">Twins</a> Joshua and Leah <a href="http://www.parentdish.co.uk/pregnancy-and-birth/mum-with-two-wombs-beats-odds-of-five-million-to-one-to-give-birth-to-twins-grown-in-separate-wombs/" target="_blank">were born from their mum's two separate wombs!</a> Their mum Danielle Young has two wombs, a double cervix and a double vagina. She was told she may never have children, but beat unbelievable odds to give to birth to daughter Paige, five and twins Joshua and Leah, now four.</p>
- Beautiful black and white twins Kian and Remee turn seven<p> Beautiful twins Remee and Kian Hodgson share the same cheeky smile but Kian's skin is dark and she has black hair while her sister Remee is blonde with pale skin. The twins, who were born within a minute of each other, <a href="http://www.parentdish.co.uk/2012/03/31/beautiful-black-and-white-twins-kian-and-remee-hodgson-turn-seven/" target="_blank">owe their different appearances to a one in a million combination of their parents' genes</a>. Their mum Kylee Hodgson and dad Remi Horder both have white mothers and black fathers.</p>
- Twins born with a combined weight of less than 3.5lbs finally go home<p> Twins Harrison and George Kent <a href="http://www.parentdish.co.uk/2012/05/22/twins-born-with-a-combined-weight-of-less-than-3-5lbs-finally-allowed-home/" target="_blank">were born 15 weeks premature, with a combined weight of less than 3.5lbs</a>. Despite everything that was stacked against them, they have defied the odds and have finally been allowed home, after five months spent in six different hospitals.</p>
- Long-lost sisters separated at birth 64 years ago discover they are TWINS<p> Jenny Lucas and Helen Edwards were <a href="http://www.parentdish.co.uk/2012/12/07/long-lost-sisters-separated-at-birth-64-years-ago-discover-they-are-twins/" target="_blank">separated at birth</a> and led incredibly different lives. They didn't even know of each other's existence until 2003, and when they finally met in 2007, they believed they were only half-sisters. But they were struck by how similar they were and so decided to take a DNA test, which confirmed they were non-identical twins!</p>
Share this article
24 Comments